Mertens ends goal drought as Napoli goes 4 clear in Serie A
MILAN (AP) - Napoli appears more and more likely to end Juventus' stranglehold on the Italian league title.
Serie A resumed on Sunday after a winter break and Maurizio Sarri's team won 1-0 at Atalanta to extend its lead at the top of the Serie A standings to four points ahead of Juventus. The six-time defending champion hosts Genoa on Monday.
Napoli had lost three of its last four matches against Atalanta but Dries Mertens ended his goal drought in timely fashion to help his team break that hoodoo.
"We won and I scored, you can't get better than that," Mertens said. "It was very important for us, for the team, for the fans because we know it is always difficult here for us and it was important to win here ... It's certainly another small step toward our dream. Let's hope."
Napoli won its only two Italian league titles in 1987 and 1990 with Argentine great Diego Maradona leading the way.
Lazio went third with a 5-1 win over Chievo Verona. It is 11 points behind Napoli, albeit with a match in hand, and a point above Inter Milan which hosted fifth-placed Roma later.
Napoli was looking for revenge after losing the Italian quarterfinal to Atalanta at the beginning of the year but struggled to create anything against a very well-organized defense.
Lorenzo Insigne went closest in an even first half, with a curling shot which was deflected just past the top corner.
Atalanta goalkeeper Etrit Berisha parried Jose Callejon's header from point-blank range and Andrea Masiello cleared the rebound off the line early in the second half as Napoli began to look more dangerous.
The visitors broke the deadlock in the 65th minute as Mertens beat the offside trap to run onto Callejon's through-ball and smash it in for his 11th league goal this season but his first in 10 Serie A matches.
Atalanta had chances to level, while Napoli substitute Marek Hamsik blazed over the bar from a good position.
Hamsik also had a goal ruled out for offside in stoppage time.
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IMMOBILE WORRY
Lazio could be left counting the cost of its impressive 5-1 victory over Chievo as it lost Serie A top goalscorer Ciro Immobile to injury.
Immobile, who has scored 20 goals in the league this season, pulled up in the 34th minute clutching his thigh and immediately asked to be replaced.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic had put Lazio 2-1 up minutes earlier. Luis Alberto opened the scoring for Lazio but a defensive lapse allowed Manuel Pucciarelli to level less than a minute later.
Chievo thought it had a chance to equalize in first-half stoppages as it was awarded a penalty after Senad Lulic appeared to trip Mariusz Stepinski but the referee changed his mind on video review.
Milinkovic-Savic doubled his tally in the 68th, and Juan Bastos and Nani extended Lazio's lead late on.
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OTHER MATCHES
Franck Kessie scored two goals, including a penalty, as AC Milan came back to win 2-1 at Cagliari in windy conditions.
Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma perhaps should have done better to prevent Nicolo Barella's early opener.
Both teams ended the game with 10 men as Milan defender Ricardo Rodriguez was sent off following a second yellow card late on, as was Barella eight minutes later.
Milan moved seventh, two points behind Sampdoria which beat Fiorentina 3-1, with Fabio Quagliarella scoring a hat trick against his former club.
Elsewhere, Crotone moved out of the bottom three as it won 3-0 at 10-man Hellas Verona in a relegation fight.
Crotone moved two points above Spal which drew 1-1 at Udinese.
Bottom-side Benevento lost 3-0 at Bologna while Sassuolo drew 1-1 against Torino.