Napoli were made to sweat for three points against troubled Lecce, as Giovanni Di Lorenzo had one goal disallowed and scored his second to keep the leadership intact.
Alex Meret returned after more than a month out, while Billy Gilmour continued to deputise for injured Stanislav Lobotka, but David Neres and Cyril Ngonge got their first Serie A starts. Lecce were reeling after a 6-0 defeat to Fiorentina, where Antonino Gallo was sent off and therefore suspended here, plus injured Frederic Guilbert, Kevin Bonifazi, Medon Berisha, Luis Hasa and Filip Marchwinski.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Following a couple of weak Ngonge and Neres efforts, Napoli thought they had taken the lead on 26 minutes. Giovanni Di Lorenzo had nodded back the Gilmour cross-field pass for Ngonge to force a Wladimiro Falcone save, then turned in the wayward Scott McTominay follow-up, but the captain was offside.
Gilmour’s disguised pass released McTominay for a shot charged down by Kialonda Gaspar, but Lecce were a huge danger on the counter-attack from that corner. First Santiago Pierotti was sent clear on goal only for Matias Olivera to make a crucial block, then on that set play Meret flew to parry the Federico Baschirotto header with Gaspar’s follow-up cleared off the line by Alessandro Buongiorno.
Falcone palmed Ngonge’s left-foot scorcher over the bar and Lukaku couldn’t keep the finish down from five yards after a knockdown.
There was controversy on 61 minutes when Matteo Politano headed from a corner and then Lameck Banda crashed into him, but the referee judged it to be an accidental clash of heads and VAR did not recommend a review.
Buongiorno risked an own goal with a wayward defensive header, but Napoli finally took the lead on 73 minutes.
McTominay got his head to a Politano corner, forcing a tricky save out of Falcone, and Di Lorenzo was quicker than Nikola Krstovic to pounce on the rebound from point-blank range.
It could’ve been 2-0 moments later, Lukaku controlling a long Buongiorno pass and pulling it back for Giacomo Raspadori to blast over the bar, while Krstovic hit a scorcher just wide from distance and Patrick Dorgu saw his assist cut out when he should’ve gone for goal. Lecce scored only three times in nine rounds, so it is not hard to see where their problems lie.
Di Lorenzo was also fortunate to avoid a second yellow card in stoppages for his foul on Ante Rebic just outside the box.
Napoli 1-0 Lecce
Di Lorenzo 73 (N)
Player statistic
| Cyril Ngonge |  |
19' |
| Giovanni Di Lorenzo | |
51' | ||
| Giovanni Di Lorenzo |  |
73' | ||
| 77' | |
Santiago Pierotti | ||
| Mathías Olivera | |
90' | ||
| 90+3' | |
Ante Rebic |
Match statistic
What will stop Napoli?