Tottenham Hotspur’s win over Coventry City on Monday could have been spoiled by a trio of injury concerns, but Roberto De Zerbi is confident the issues were ‘nothing important’.
Spurs finally got their first win of the Premier League season as they beat Coventry 3-1 in north London thanks to goals from James Maddison, Omar Marmoush and Ben Davies.
It was a morale-boosting night for De Zerbi and his men as Maddison started a Premier League game for the first time in well over a year and scored a brilliant goal, then Dejan Kulusevski returned from the bench, appearing for the first time since May 2025.
However, there were concerns as the trio of Andy Robertson, Tosin Adarabioyo and Marmoush all limped out of the game in the second half.
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Robertson especially looked to be in trouble as he sat on the pitch and signaled that he needed to be substituted.
De Zerbi, though, sounded bright and breezy about the three players after the game, insisting that there was little to worry about.
‘No, no, no, I think there are no injuries, nothing important,’ said the Italian.
Tottenham are back in action on Saturday against Chelsea and already have a number of players out of that match through injury, with Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert, Savio, Lucas Bergvall and Mykhailo Mudryk sidelined, while Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended.
Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro were not fit to play on Monday night, but could return for the weekend.
Whether De Zerbi was right to be so relaxed about Robertson, Tosin and Marmoush will become clear in the coming days.
The Spurs boss was understandably happy about a great night for the club after a terrible start to the season, not just for the result but also the returning players.
‘Very happy for the result, very happy for Maddison, very happy for Deki Kulusevski,’ he said. ‘I think we played much better in other games, Old Trafford, Aston Villa especially in the first half, Everton especially in the first half, Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, but we didn’t play so well, not for our responsibility.
‘But for their credit, for the Coventry credit, because playing against one team who defend so close, so compact with low block, it’s always a very, very tough game. Especially in the first half we didn’t move the ball so fast, I think we have been too predictable, but I knew before the game.
‘We played three at the back I want to explain why, because for the injured players in the midfield position, Conor Gallagher came back two days ago, and at the beginning of the week, the medical staff told me maybe he could be not available to play.
‘Bergvall was injured, Mateus Fernandes worked just the last two days because of his [newborn] son, and I thought three at the back was the best solution to defend the counter-attack, to have more control of the game, and for that I’m happy because we didn’t concede a counter-attack.’
De Zerbi admitted that he didn’t really need to bring Kulusevski off the bench for Mohammed Kudus late on, but did so for the ‘suffering’ fans.
‘Listen Kudus, I thought he was playing well, I think he could finish the game, but I thought of Kulusevski just for the fans,’ he said. ‘Just for the fans because they waited (for) him on the pitch and in the last 5-10 minutes for extra time, we needed the support of the fans.
‘And they are fantastic with Kulusevski, with us, they suffered too much in the last three-four seasons, I don’t know, but they deserve to celebrate many, many wins.’