Defending champions Juventus have climbed to the top of the Serie A table for the first time this season courtesy of a 1-0 win over title rivals Napoli this evening.
© Getty Images
Simone Zaza got the only goal of the game late on for the Old Lady to secure a 15th consecutive league victory from Massimiliano Allegri's men and see them leapfrog Napoli at the top of the pile.
A quiet opening 45 minutes saw little in the way of clear goalscoring chances for either side, with the best of the lot falling the way of Napoli 10 minutes before the interval.
A corner was swung into the box and found its way to Raul Albiol, who steered an effort goalwards, only for Gianluigi Buffon to make the save.
Buffon was called upon again in the very early stages of the second half when Lorenzo Insigne danced his way into the box before drilling a low effort towards the bottom corner that needed to be pushed away by the veteran keeper.
Juve's first real attacking threat didn't arrive until past the hour mark when Paulo Dybala unleashed a volley from inside the penalty area that flew narrowly over the crossbar.
Marek Hamsik then fired one just too high with 10 minutes of the match remaining, but the deadlock would finally be broken in the closing stages of the match.
It was the hosts who got the all-important goal with only two minutes of normal time remaining as Zaza collected the ball before firing a 25-yard effort past Pepe Reina in the Napoli goal.
The visitors had no time to respond in the dying embers of the game as their own eight-match winning streak in the league came to an end to see them slip to second.
Barney Corkhill
