McTominay keeps Napoli top in Serie A with Torino winner

Napoli is provisionally four points ahead of the chasing pack thanks to McTominay’s neat finish in the 31st minute.

Napoli’s Scott McTominay, left, celebrates after scoring his side’s first goal against Torino. | Photo Credit: AP

Scott McTominay made sure that Napoli will stay top of Serie A for at least another week with the only goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win at Torino while challenger Lazio fell to a 3-1 defeat at Parma.

Napoli is provisionally four points ahead of the chasing pack thanks to McTominay’s neat finish in the 31st minute following a trademark dribble into the area from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

McTominay’s winner was his third Serie A goal since signing for Napoli in the summer and the Scotland midfielder is playing a key role in his new team’s bid for a fourth Italian league title.

Napoli would have left Turin with a heftier goal haul had Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic not pulled off a series of top class saves.

The Serbia ‘keeper kept out a Romelu Lukaku backheel and Kvaratskhelia’s looping header before McTominay broke the deadlock, and he got down brilliantly to stop both Matias Olivera’s close-range header in the 65th minute and Giovanni Simeone in stoppage time.

READ | Fiorentina’s Edoardo Bove collapses on pitch, Serie A match against Inter Milan suspended

“When you have the chances to close out the match and you don’t you need to be very careful, because a corner or a free-kick can change things,” said Conte to DAZN.

“We attacked them with aggression, much more than usual and it was only Milinkovic-Savic’s performance that stopped us from scoring more.”

Two of the teams which trail Napoli by four -- champion Inter Milan and high-flying Fiorentina -- face off in Florence later on Sunday.

- Lazio loses ground -

Lazio has lost ground after a frustrating defeat at Parma which was inflicted by an early Denis Man finish, teenager Anas Haj Mohamed’s first Serie A goal and a stoppage-time strike from Enrico Delprato after Valentin Castellanos had halved the deficit for the away side.

Marco Baroni’s Lazio, which is fifth and level on 28 points with Inter, Fiorentina and Atalanta, thought it had taken the lead in the second minute through Nicolo Rovella before the strike was ruled out for a foul by the Italy midfielder.

Rovella then handed Parma the lead when he rolled a sloppy pass across his own area straight to Man, who gobbled up the chance to net his fourth goal of the season.

Castellanos then had a goal chalked off for offside before Lazio was awarded and then denied via a VAR check, a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Lazio came out on the front foot after the break but Haj Mohamed’s beautiful curling effort -- in his first start in Italy’s top flight -- doubled the hosts lead in the 53rd minute.

Castellanos’ tap-in after a mix-up between Zion Suzuki and Emanuele Valeri was followed by intense pressure from Lazio but Delprato ensured that Parma would move up to 11th, four points above the relegation zone, after being sent clean through by Gabriel Charpentier.

- Vieira’s first win -

Patrick Vieira won his first match as Genoa coach with a 2-0 success at 10-man Udinese which moved his new team three points away from the Serie A relegation zone.

Genoa is 14th on 14 points thanks to Andrea Pinamonti’s early close-range finish and Lautaro Giannetti’s 67th-minute own goal.

Vieira, who replaced sacked Alberto Gilardino during last month’s international break, was helped by Isaak Toure being sent off for elbowing Alessandro Zanoli with barely a minute gone.

“What I wanted was to see a team that plays well as a unit, a team that moves forwards,” said Vieira to DAZN.

“And I think today, even if we had a man extra, we were well organised and worked really well together.”

Udinese is ninth on 17 points but are on a worrying run of form, with Sunday’s defeat the fourth in a five-match winless run for Kosta Runjaic’s team.

Sixth-placed Juventus finish the day’s action with a home clash at struggling Lecce.