Napoli finally hit their straps on Sunday evening but showed problems in beating Hellas Verona 6-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain. Juventus extended their lead over Roma at the top of the table to three points after a comfortable home win over Palermo. Roma were held 0-0 away at Sampdoria on Saturday night after a confidence shattering Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich in midweek. Lazio made it 4 wins out of their last 4 thanks to a home win over Torino.
Saturday 25th October
The opening game of the weekend had Cagliari travelling to Empoli and Zdenek Zeman away side Cagliari demolished Empoli 4-0 thanks to four first half goals. Marco Sau opened the scoring with a low curling effort into the bottom corner. Danilo Avelar added two included a free kick and one from the penalty spot. Albin Ekdal added a fourth with an angle drive before half time.
Sassuolo travelled to away Parma who are low in confidence and they away side capitalised on it and came away with a 3-1 win. Goals from Sergio Floccari, Francesco Acerbi and Saphir Taider with the Sassuolo goals. Antonio Cassano with the consolation goal for the home side.
The Saturday night game was AS Roma travelling away to unbeaten Sampdoria in Genoa. The game ended 0-0 played on a poor pitch. Gervinho and Alessandro Florenzi had Roma best chances, Gervinho hit the post from close range and Florenzi had his header brilliantly saved by Sergio Romero. Stefano Okaka against his old club missed a golden chance, blazing over from close range.
Sunday 26th October.
Juventus made it 23 home wins out of 23 after a comfortable home win over Palermo. Arturo Vidal and Fernando Llorente with the Juventus goals and stretched their lead at the top of the table to three points over AS Roma.
Udinese fine start to the season continues after a 2-0 home win over Atalanta, Antonio Di Natale rolled back the years with a fine opener curled into the top corner from outisde of the area. French striker Cyril Thereau added a second before half time.
Rolando Maran first game in charge of Chievo got off to the worst of the starts after a home defeat to Genoa. Chievo took the lead thanks to Ervin Zukanovic but Genoa equalised thanks to Alessandro Matri. Genoa then missed a penalty from Maurico Pinilla after Ivan Radivanovic was sent off. But Pinilla made up for his mistake by netting the winner for Genoa.
Napoli after a surprising lost in midweek to Young Boys in the Europa League hit back with a confidence boosting 6-2 over Hellas Verona. The away side took a shock lead thanks to a lovely volley from Emil Hallfredsson. Napoli hit back thanks to a double from Marek Hamsik either side of half time. But they were pegged back immediately thanks to a goal from Nico Lopez who danced through the Napoli defence and hit a low drive. Then Napoli turned up pressure and stung Hellas Verona with four late goals including a hat-trick from Gonzalo Higuain. The other was added by Jose Callejon.
Lazio made it four wins on the bounce with a home win over Tornio, Lucas Biglia opened the scoring for the homeside with a free kick form outside of the area which took a slight deflection. Alexander Farnerud equalised but then it was short lived as moments later Miroslav Klose netted the winner for Lazio to keep up the impressive run going.
Inter ended the week on a bit of a high after picking up a crucial 1-0 away win at Cesena. The only goal of the game came in the first half from the penalty spot. Mauro Icardi converted the penalty after the Cesena goalkeeper brought down Rodrigo Palacio and picked up a red card for his troubles.
The Sunday night game was at the San Siro and it was AC Milan against Fiorentina. The game ended in a draw. Nigel De Jong gave the home side the lead in the first half thanks to a close range header. But in the second half Fiorentina grabbed an equaliser thanks to Josip Ilicic daisycutter into the bottom corner.
ScotM
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