Tottenham Hotspur fans finally had something to celebrate as their side secured their first Premier League victory of the season with a 3-1 win against Coventry City in North London. The victory came from 16 attempts worth just 0.87 expected goals, with each of the three Spurs goals having found the back of the net from outside the penalty area.James Maddison put Tottenham ahead after fourteen minutes before Jack Rudoni brought Coventry level shortly after the break. Omar Marmoush and substitute Ben Davies then sealed the win, making Spurs the first Premier League side since Fulham against Leicester City in May 2023 to score three goals from outside the box in one match.Coventry win highlights Tottenham’s unusual shooting figuresTottenham saw plenty of the ball against Coventry without regularly getting into good shooting positions. The Sporting Life match statistics put Spurs on 65 per cent possession, with five of their 16 efforts on target and an xG total of 0.87.The visitors’ 12 shots added up to 0.82 xG. There was therefore only 0.05 separating the sides on that measure, despite Coventry managing just one shot on target and having considerably less possession.Sporting Life’s shot map also shows that Spurs did get opportunities inside the penalty area. None of those attempts found the net, with all three goals arriving from shots taken further out.Maddison’s opener was a reminder of the quality Tottenham have missed during his lengthy absence. Marmoush followed with an excellent finish of his own after Jack Rudoni had equalised, before Davies settled matters deep into stoppage time.The three goals were enough to secure the points, even though Tottenham had struggled to work their way into the most promising shooting positions. It was an excellent return from the chances available to them, rather than an evening when Coventry’s goalkeeper was constantly being called into action.Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP via Getty ImagesSpurs created more against Manchester United and Aston VillaOpponentGoals scoredExpected goals (xG)Aston Villa21.56Manchester United11.56Coventry City30.87Tottenham’s goals and expected goals in their last three Premier League matches. Source: xgEdge.Tottenham had struggled to convert their opportunities before the Coventry match, although the quality of their chances had not always been the problem. According to xgEdge, Spurs had accumulated 6.56 xG across their opening six league games, scoring only three times.Coventry brought another three goals in a single evening, this time from just 0.87 xG. In one match, Tottenham matched their previous six-game goalscoring return without producing anything like the same volume of quality chances.The contrast with their two preceding matches is revealing. Spurs generated 1.56 xG against both Aston Villa and Manchester United, but took just one point from those fixtures.De Zerbi’s team had been finding ways to create opportunities without taking enough of them. On Monday, they did almost the opposite, scoring three times from chances that would ordinarily produce fewer than one goal.That is not an argument against the victory. Tottenham took their opportunities and deserved credit for doing so, especially after Coventry had threatened to frustrate them again.What it does show is that Monday’s goalscoring improvement was not accompanied by a similar jump in the quality of chances Spurs created. Their 0.87 xG was actually below their average of approximately 1.09 across the first six games.De Zerbi knows Tottenham can play betterDe Zerbi had already seen better football from his side in games that failed to bring three points. After the Coventry match, he referred back to Tottenham’s performance at Old Trafford and the first halves against Aston Villa and Everton when explaining why he was not entirely satisfied with the display.The pace of Tottenham’s passing before half-time was among De Zerbi’s concerns. In his post-match press conference, he described his side as being “too predictable” and explained how Coventry’s compact defending had made it difficult to find space.De Zerbi also explained that he had adjusted Tottenham’s formation to give them greater protection against counterattacks. He was satisfied with how that aspect of the plan worked, even while recognising that his players had not created as many chances as in previous matches.Coventry deserve credit for making life difficult in N17. Their defensive approach gave Tottenham little room to operate centrally, with Maddison finding the breakthrough through an excellent finish from outside the penalty area.Maddison’s return gives De Zerbi another option when opponents defend in that fashion. His ability to score from range gives defenders another problem to consider, even if Tottenham will still want to fashion better opportunities closer to goal.Chelsea will provide another measure of Tottenham’s progressSaturday’s visit to Stamford Bridge now offers Spurs an opportunity to build on their first league victory. Chelsea will pose a different set of problems, and there is no guarantee the match will follow the pattern of Coventry’s visit, especially at a stadium where we have historically struggled to win during the Premier League era.Tottenham at least have reasons to feel more encouraged than they did a week ago. Maddison is back among the goals, Marmoush has opened his account for the club and Dejan Kulusevski has finally returned to competitive action after over 500 days out.De Zerbi will hope those developments help his side become more effective in possession. He has spent much of the season watching Tottenham fail to turn promising passages of play into goals, and Monday provided the opposite problem.Three goals from distance were enough to beat Coventry, and the three points could prove important in restoring some confidence around the club. The next step is to create the sort of opportunities that do not require an outstanding finish every time, and what better place to do that than Stamford Bridge this weekend?The post Tottenham's three-goal Coventry win masks a concern Roberto De Zerbi cannot ignore - Opinion appeared first on Spurs Web.