James Maddison marked his first start in 18 months with an early goal, but Tottenham had to respond after Jack Rudoni equalised for Coventry four minutes into the second half.

Omar Marmoush restored Tottenham's lead with a superb finish in the 58th minute before Ben Davies sealed the victory in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

The result was a significant boost for De Zerbi's side after their difficult start to the campaign, with the Tottenham manager particularly pleased by the players' reaction to conceding.

"The win was important for the table, first of all, because we felt pain looking at the table," De Zerbi said. "We deserved to win today. We deserved to win the last games."

However, the Italian admitted Tottenham had not produced their best performance, giving credit to Coventry for making life difficult with their compact defensive approach.

"I think we didn't play so well tonight. We played much better in other games," he said, explaining that his side had moved the ball too slowly to break down the hosts' defence.

De Zerbi also revealed that injuries in midfield had influenced his tactical decisions. Conor Gallagher had been unable to play at the start of the week, while Mateus Fernandes had only returned from Portugal towards the end of the week.

Despite those challenges, the manager believes Tottenham are beginning to show greater resilience, pointing to their response in the previous match against Manchester United as another sign of progress.

"We are making the click, not just tonight, but from the game before in Old Trafford," he said.

De Zerbi was especially encouraged that his players refused to settle for a draw after Coventry equalised, instead pushing forward to reclaim the lead and secure all three points.

"We showed character, we showed reaction, we showed that we didn't accept the draw, we didn't accept the result after the goal we conceded," he said. "That's important, it's crucial."

Tottenham will now look to build on their first league victory when they travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Saturday, with De Zerbi hoping the result marks a turning point in their season.

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