The game against Coventry City was a must-win one for Tottenham Hotspur, who had just returned from a warm-weather training camp in Marbella.

Thankfully, Roberto De Zerbi’s side were able to pick up their maiden win of the Premier League campaign and move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season. It will ease the pressure on Roberto De Zerbi and his players, who will now be hoping to build on this result against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Owing to Rodrigo Bentancur’s suspension and muscle injury to Lucas Bergvall, Tottenham fans were expecting to see a Sandro Tonali-Mateus Fernandes double pivot against Coventry City. However, De Zerbi opted for Archie Gray to partner Tonali in the middle of the park, with Spurs switching to a three-man defence. Explaining his decision after the game, De Zerbi revealed that Mateus Fernandes only trained with the squad for two days prior to the game due to the birth of his son.

Roberto De Zerbi explains what Mateus Fernandes must do to break into the Tottenham XI

The 22-year-old has failed to hit the ground running at Tottenham following his £85m summer move from West Ham. He endured a stop-start pre-season campaign due to injury and has barely managed to impress in each of the seven league games he’s played for the North Londoners thus far.

Fernandes has started only three of seven Premier League outings. He has clocked only 20 minutes across the last two games against Manchester United and Coventry. With the midfielder finding it difficult to get regular starting minutes, De Zerbi was asked what he should do to break into his first XI.

“I think he needs to understand the club, to better understand to come inside the environment of a bigger club. Different club, but he’s a good guy. I don’t change my idea about him, like the club [don’t change]. We pushed together to bring him,” De Zerbi said in his press conference (h/t Football London).

“We are convinced of his qualities, and he has to stay with a calm head and confidence and enjoy on the pitch, enjoy with the ball – show his qualities because he will be one of the most important players of Tottenham for the future; for the present and the future.”

Competition for places has increased

While twice relegated at Southampton and then West Ham, Fernandes had been a real shining light for both clubs, with Man United and Real Madrid expressing their interest in his services over the summer. But Spurs managed to convince the Portuguese Under-21 international of their project.

They splashed £85m for his potential, yet a matter of months into his time at Spurs, things haven’t exactly clicked into gear thus far. With Dejan Kulusevski making his first appearance after nearly 18 months on Monday, and James Maddison starting his first game of the season, Fernandes now faces competition for places in midfield.

Having mostly been used in an advanced role, the 22-year-old must up his game and adapt to De Zerbi’s tactical and physical demands to break into the starting XI. Recognising these demands, the Spurs boss made a point of publicly shielding Fernandes from unfair judgments during his early adaptation phase. That said, it’ll be interesting to see what role the young Portuguese talent gets against Chelsea.