Victor Osimhen extended Napoli’s lead at the top of Serie A to three points on Sunday with the only goal in a hard-fought 1-0 win at Roma, their 11th on the bounce in all competitions.
Nigeria forward Osimhen crashed in his third goal is as many games with 10 minutes remaining of his first start since early September to hand Napoli a win at one of their fiercest rivals.
Luciano Spalletti’s side took advantage of Atalanta’s 2-0 home defeat to Lazio earlier on Sunday to move further ahead of the pack and become the only unbeaten side left in Italy’s top flight.
Napoli’s nearest challengers now reigning champions AC Milan following their 4-1 thumping of Monza on Saturday.
Roma are seven points back in fifth after a dogged, battling performance at the Stadio Olimpico which lacked in invention but largely kept a lid on possibly Europe’s most exciting team.
Napoli thought they had a chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot when referee Massimiliano Irrati blew for a foul on Tanguy Ndombele by Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
But as a chorus of boos and whistles rolled down the stands from fans outraged at penalising Patricio when he clearly took the ball first, Irrati checked the pitchside monitor and overturned his own decision.
Roma didn’t have a single shot on target in the first half and struggled to create anything after the break when Napoli slowly began to threaten.
Eljif Elmas was denied a close-range tap-in on the hour mark by a magnificent Chris Smalling block and from the resulting corner ex-Roma man Juan Jesus slashed wide after being set up perfectly by Osimhen.
Osimhen dragged a colossal chance wide with just Patricio to beat after a lightning Napoli counter-attack in the 70th minute.
But the 23-year-old rattled in a much more difficult effort 10 minutes later, charging on to Matteo Politano’s booted long pass before holding off Smalling and claiming the three points with a rocket of a finish.
