Thursday’s Serie A action completed the midweek slate of games and Napoli’s thumping of Sampdoria was among the highlights from this week’s action so far. Roma and Lazio were also in action with Jose Mourinho’s men winning and Maurizio Sarri’s troops being held to a draw by Torino, but it was Spalletti’s outfit which was by far the most impressive.
Napoli currently top the standings in Italy’s top flight while the two Milan clubs lie two points adrift, and Roma are not far behind in fourth ahead of another busy weekend slate. You can watch every Serie A game this season live on Paramount+.
Here are Thursday’s scores and some takeaways.
Serie A scores
Napoli 4, Sampdoria 0
Roma 1, Udinese 0
Torino 1, Lazio 1
Napoli stay 100%
While it is early in the season and perhaps too early to brand them as the team to beat, Napoli have certainly started the campaign with purpose. A 4-0 win away at Sampdoria on Thursday means that they are the only side with a 100% winning record in Serie A and with five goals in three games, they now have one of the most in-form strikers in Victor Osimhen. Equally impressive is the fact that Napoli are the second-best team in the league in terms of attack with 14 goals scored while two goals conceded is the joint-best defense.
Cagliari under former boss Walter Mazzarri and resurgent Fiorentina are not easy games pre-international break coming up on Napoli’s schedule, but they are also not beyond this Napoli side who will also welcome veteran Dries Mertens back shortly.
Roma recover
After the surprise of losing to Hellas Verona last time out, Mourinho’s men needed to respond and delivered that through a narrow home win over a tough Udinese outfit. Tammy Abraham got himself another goal to move to two Serie A strikes and the England international is developing into a key figure under the Portuguese tactician already.
Udinese themselves were coming off a 4-0 thumping by Napoli and needed to show better and were only just edged out at Stadio Olimpico by the hosts. Fiorentina and Sampdoria next could see further points on the board in Friuli while Roma have the derby with Lazio this weekend in a decidedly tougher task.
Lacking Lazio
Sarri’s Lazio team will have to be much better than they have been in recent weeks if they want to get the better of Roma after a fourth consecutive winless outing dropped them down toward mid-table. A late Ciro Immobile penalty was needed to save a point against Torino after Marko Pjaca had given the home side the lead in Turin.
A loss to AC Milan has been followed up by draws with Cagliari and Torino, and while not fatal this early in the season, the Biancocelesti are already losing ground. Roma and Bologna give Lazio the opportunity to right the ship before the international break arrives and brings an opportunity to regroup.