James Maddison is Class, but it’s Sandro Tonali Who Could Drive Tottenham to a Rare Stamford Bridge Win

Tottenham Hotspur recorded their first win of the Premier League season at home to Coventry City on Monday night, but there were far more positives to take than just the three points.

It’s hard to say what had the Spurs faithful jumping for more euphoric joy: the full-time whistle, James Maddison’s screamer, or Dejan Kulusevski’s return from injury. A much-needed win lifted Tottenham from 20th to 16th – not much to write home about, but at least the Lilywhites are now clear of the relegation zone for another week.

Believe it or not, despite his 526-day absence from the Tottenham squad, Kulusevski had actually started a Premier League match more recently than Maddison before Monday night. The former Leicester man has been on an 18-month recovery journey of his own after a nasty ACL injury threw him into a constant loop of missed games and managed minutes.

It’s fair to say that Maddison returned with a bang at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against his boyhood club, Coventry, though. With just 14 minutes on the clock, Kudus rolled the ball back to Madders outside the box, only for the Spurs playmaker to whip one right into the top corner.

It was far from a flash-in-the-pan moment either. Plenty will have named Maddison their Man of the Match after his 68-minute run out. He made eight line-breaking passes, won 100% of his duels, completed 87% of his passes, created one chance, made five passes into the final third, recovered the ball four times, and even made six defensive contributions. For a man who hasn’t played much football in a year and a half, James Maddison was everywhere!

But there is another Spurs player who quietly put in his best performance in a Lilywhite shirt, slightly overshadowed by the dramatic returns of Messrs Maddison and Kulusevski. Take a bow, Sandro Tonali.

If you thought Maddison’s stats were impressive, take a look at this!

• Minutes played: 90
• FotMob rating: 7.9
• Touches: 87
• Pass completion: 94%
• Chances created: 2
• Distance covered: 12.3km
• Recoveries: 7
• Defensive contributions: 15
• Passes into the final third: 4
• Line-breaking passes: 3

This is arguably the first time Tottenham fans have had a real taste of the £100m player they thought they were buying from Newcastle in the summer. In Spurs’ 3-1 win, only Archie Gray ran further than Tonali. No one even came close to his 15 defensive contributions. No outfield player racked up more recoveries. No one on the pitch had more tackles. Only Micky Van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke had a better pass completion record. Sandro Tonali covered every single blade of grass at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, without dropping his standards despite playing all 90 minutes.

With a daunting London derby at Stamford Bridge coming up next, Tottenham are going to need each and every one of those defensive contributions if they hope to come away with a result against Chelsea. Not only will Tonali have to win the midfield battle against the likes of Moises Caicedo and Jordan Henderson, but he will also have to help track the runs of the deadliest front three in the league – Morgan Rogers, Cole Palmer, and Joao Pedro.

Tottenham and Chelsea have gone head-to-head a total of 34 times at Stamford Bridge since the start of the Premier League. Guess how many Spurs have won? (Cue Doctor Strange holding up one finger). Tottenham’s only victory came back in 2018 – a 3-1 win courtesy of Dele Alli, at the peak of the Mauricio Pochettino era. The eight games since then… well, take a look for yourselves.

Tottenham will need the creativity of James Maddison. They will need the recovery pace of Van de Ven. They will need heroics from Antonin Kinsky and goals from Dominic Solanke. But I think, more than anything, they will need a world-class midfield general in Sandro Tonali.