Gonzalo Higuain scored early with an acrobatic volley, his fifth goal in three league games, to set Napoli on the way to a convincing 2-0 win over sluggish AS Roma in Serie A on Saturday.
Roma’s defeat in the big game of the weekend in Italy allowed Juventus to pull three points clear at the top after a 2-0 victory at Empoli thanks to an Andrea Pirlo free kick and Alvaro Morata’s strike.
The champions, who lost for the first time in the league this season at Genoa in midweek, were made to work hard for their win with both goals coming in the second half.
Napoli, who have picked up speed after a slow start to the campaign, moved up to third place on 18 points from 10 games, four behind the second-placed Romans.
The hosts went ahead in the third minute when Lorenzo Insigne’s long-range effort was deflected off a defender and Argentine Higuain, with his back to play, leapt to hook the ball spectacularly into the net.
The strike made Napoli fans quickly forget his missed late penalty in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Atalanta and calmed the atmosphere inside the San Paolo as the sides met for the first time since a fan was shot before May’s Italian Cup final.
Radja Nainggolan became the villain when he lost possession in the centre circle and the ball was fed to the left flank where Higuain’s incisive cross into the area saw Jose Callejon get there first to finally turn it into the net.
Juve’s Pirlo broke the deadlock on the hour at lowly Empoli in trademark style, his free kick drifting over the wall and in, although the keeper could probably have done better.
Carlos Tevez came off the bench and almost immediately made an impact as he teed up Morata for the second on 72 minutes.
