Goals scored by Victor Osimhen, Piotr Zieliński and Eljif Elmas saw Napoli beat Udinese 3-2 on Saturday for their 11th consecutive league victory, and open up a significant lead over their rivals.
It was a tense finish for the home side, however, following two late goals from substitutes Ilija Nestorovski and Lazar Samardžić.
The five teams ranked immediately below Napoli won’t play until Sunday, with four of them set to face each other.
Regardless of what happens Napoli is guaranteed to spend the rest of the year at least eight points clear, as Serie A pauses for the World Cup and the traditional winter break.
“I want to thank my players for a phenomenal first part of the season,” Coach Luciano Spalletti said.
“Overall, the mentality, the dedication and the work ethic of my team have been exceptional.
"They're young, enthusiastic and they make my job easy because they do everything I ask of them ... Now we must make sure we have exactly the same attitude when the season resumes.”
By the time Italian soccer resumes, it will have been three months since Udinese's last victory, as the team have crashed somewhat after an impressive start to the season.
It took Napoli just 15 minutes to dismantle the gridlock, with Osimhen heading home player Elmas' cross for his seventh goal in his past six league matches.
Osimhen also had a hand in Napoli's second goal on the 31st, as he went on the counterattack and delivered a sneaky back heel pass to Hirving Lozano in midfield. Lozano picked out Zieliński, who took one touch to control in the penalty area before curling into the far side of the net.
Napoli's third goal also came from a counterattack. André-Frank Anguissa picked out Elmas, who was in plenty of space on the left and he cut inside to fire in at the near post.
Napoli seemed to be heading towards an effortless victory, but Nestorovski pulled one back in the 79th, and Samardžić reduced the gap even further three minutes later when he stole the ball off Kim Min-jae and surged forward before placing it into the bottom left corner from 25 yards.
Sampdoria fans resoundingly jeered their team, and continued protests at the stadium after the game following a fourth straight defeat that left the club mired in the bottom three amid their worst start to the season.
Lorenzo Colombo scored on the stroke of halftime and set up a late goal for Lameck Banda as Lecce won 2-0 at Sampdoria.
Sampdoria coach Dejan Stanković was suspended for the match and could only watch in obvious clear distress from the stands as his team fell to their fifth defeat in the seven league matches since he took charge.
Sampdoria remained four points from safety ahead of the rest of the weekend's fixtures while Lecce moved eight points clear of the relegation zone.
―With AAP.
