The peak of the Serie A table stayed unchanged as teams placed 2-4 all kept pace with Juventus by winning on Sunday, also all earning clean sheets.
Second-placed Napoli went ahead early and took care of Sassuolo for a 2-0 win at Stadio San Paulo. Adam Ounas scored the opener just four minutes in on quite a stunning goal as he intercepted a back-pass off his chest and controlled the ball around Giangiacomo Magnani. He took a brilliant touch to pop the ball up in the air over the defender, and ripped a left-footed blast on the volley for an impressive finish. Lorenzo Insigne put the game away in the 72nd minute with his seventh goal of the season. The defense gave him far too much space to tee up a shot outside the top of the box, and he curled one into the top-right corner.
Lazio needed just a goal from Ciro Immobile in the 37th minute to hold serve at home over Fiorentina with a 1-0 victory. It came on a set-piece, as Lazio delivered one of its five corners. Stefan Radu got his head to it from the penalty spot and sent it to the far post, where Immobile was there to tap it in for his sixth goal of the season. The win pushed Lazio as high as third, although they would fall to fourth by the end of the day.
Sampdoria – at the time – secured its spot in a Champions League place for another week as Lorenzo Tonelli got his first goal with the club in the 76th minute of a 1-0 road win over Atalanta. Tonelli got his head to a corner and directed it inside the near post, as Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini was incredibly late to react. The 28-year-old Tonelli joined Sampdoria this summer from on loan after he barely featured for Napoli last season. The three points pushed Sampdoria up to fourth, although Inter jumped them after their late kick.
AC Milan also won its second straight, the club’s first winning streak of the season, with a 3-1 victory over Chievo Verona. Gonzalo Higuain grabbed a brace, scoring first-half goals seven minutes apart to put Milan in control.
His first came on a bit of sloppy play with Chievo unable to clear. A Hakan Calhanoglu cross was too far over the box, but Suso was able to collect on the right edge of the box, and with the defense out of sorts, his low bullet found Higuain in the middle of the box for a simple poke inside the near post. Then, past the half-hour mark, Suso again found the Argentinian, this time through the center with a clinical through-ball that left Higuain free on goal. Giacomo Bonaventura grabbed Milan’s third after halftime, while Sergio Pellissier picked up Chievo’s consolation just past the hour mark.
Earlier in the day, Parma moved into the top half of the table with a 3-1 road win at Genoa. They went behind just six minutes in via Genoa’s Krzysztof Piatek who bagged his league-leading ninth goal of the season, but Luca Rigoni would equalize soon after thanks to a terrible mistake by Genoa goalkeeper Ionut Radu who attempted to punch a corner but whiffed. Luca Siligardi put Parma in front with a deflected strike, and by the 30th minute Fabio Ceravolo completed the scoreline
Mauro Icardi’s double saved Inter’s day as the visitors won 2-1 over SPAL at Stadio Paolo Mazza in Ferrara. Icardi struck first 14 minutes in on a stunning header from an impossible angle. Inter pushed to get the ball into the box, but with SPAL continuing to clear, Sime Vrsaljko lofted a ball in from the right flank and Icardi, with his back to net and near the end line at the near post, somehow flicked a bouncing header across the face of goal and in past Alfred Gomis. SPAL equalized on a sleepy moment by Inter defender Miranda to let Alberto Paloschi leak behind and score, but it wouldn’t stay level long.Ivan Perisic fed Icardi just five minutes later with a beautiful through-ball down the left and the Argentine finished with ease for the 2-1 win. The win moves Inter to third, above Lazio and Sampdoria.
