Napoli swept past troubled neighbours Salernitana thanks to goals from Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Victor Osimhen to hit the midway stage of the season with 50 points from a possible 57.
The Derby di Campania was a fiery affair, especially as the hosts had sacked coach Davide Nicola after the 8-2 defeat to Atalanta only to recall him 48 hours later. With Federico Fazio, Pasquale Mazzocchi, Giulio Maggiore, Luigi Sepe, Dylan Bronn and Ivan Radovanovic injured, he moved to four at the back. The Partenopei were nine points clear at the top of the Serie A table, but crashed out of the Coppa Italia midweek on penalties to 10-man Cremonese. Kvicha Kvaratskhelia had flu and Juan Jesus was hurt, so Chucky Lozano faced his Mexico international teammate Guillermo Ochoa.
Napoli poured forward from the start, Victor Osimhen’s shot charged down by Norbert Gyomber from 12 yards, and there was even more bad news for Salernitana when tonight’s captain Norbert Gyomber limped off with a thigh strain.
Ochoa made a strong reaction save on Osimhen’s volley from a corner, while Alex Meret had his gloves stung by Krzysztof Piatek at the near post.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo flicked a ball over the top for Osimhen to squeeze the finish between Ochoa and the near post, but he was flagged just offside.
Kim Min-jae had to take one for the team and accept the yellow card for taking down Piatek, although appeals for a red were rejected both because it was a long way from goal and as Amir Rrahmani was ready to cover.
Napoli broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa combined with Mario Rui to pull back from the by-line, as Di Lorenzo took a touch and smashed the finish off the underside of the crossbar.
Straight after the restart it was 2-0, as Eljif Elmas unleashed a right-foot strike from outside the box that bounced off the far post, into the path of Osimhen for the tap-in.
Lorenzo Pirola’s header skimmed the back stick after a Salernitana corner, while Ochoa clawed an Osimhen header round the near post on Piotr Zielinski’s cross.
Mario Rui drilled wide and Osimhen was brought down by Pirola on the edge of the box after shaking off Matteo Lovato, but Salernitana had a huge chance to get back into it on 83 minutes.
Stanislav Lobotka’s heavy touch sent Piatek clear on goal and Meret got down for a sensational fingertip save, pushing it onto the inside of the upright.
Salernitana 0-2 Napoli
Di Lorenzo 45 (N), Osimhen 48 (N)