Tottenham have been handed a major injury boost as Dejan Kulusevski will return to their matchday squad for their game against Coventry City on Monday evening. The Swedish international winger has been out of action for over 500 days follwing a serious knee injury that he received surgery on in May 2025 just days before their Europa League final victory over Manchester United.
The club initially said that he would likely be out until 'the turn of the year' but, ultimately, he missed the entire 2025/26 season and this summer's World Cup. The former Juventus man played in a behind-closed-doors friendly during the recent international break and De Zerbi confirmed in his Sunday morning press conference that he would be among the substitutes for tomorrow's evening's clash against Frank Lampard's in-form Sky Blues.
Tottenham will go into the game bottom of the Premier League table after Fulham secured their first win of the season over Hull City yesterday which means that, at the time of writing, only they and Bournemouth remain winless in the league. Their opponents Coventry won their first game of the season in the final game before the international break against Nottingham Forest and picked up where they left off with a thumping 4-1 success over Newcastle last Monday.
Despite the positive news surrounding Kulusevski, if Spurs are to get that elusive first win, they will have to do it without a couple of key players. Neither Savio nor Lucas Bergvall travelled with the squad to their midweek warm-weather training camp in Marbella with De Zerbi confirming neither will be available "for some weeks". The former is suffering with a muscle problem while the latter felt a pain in his knee in their 1-1 draw with Manchester United last week.
The Italian was also forced to field questions surrounding Richarlison's social media behaviour. The Brazilian striker has not played for the first team since the opening day of the season and has recently been banished to train with the Under-21 squad, having played and scored in their penalty shootout defeat to Cheltenham in the EFL Trophy in midweek.
The former Everton man responded to comments from Duncan Ferguson who was critical of the Spurs boss' handling of the situation by thanking his former manager.
"It's not my problem any more. If he wants to speak to me, he can find me in my office but I won't speak about it any more because I am only focussed on Coventry."