Serie A review: Roma claims derby spoils as Inter, Fiorentina win again
Roma continued its hold over city rival Lazio to stay in touch with Serie A's leading pair Fiorentina and Inter, who won again.
Goals from Edin Dzeko and Gervinho settled the Rome derby in Serie A as Roma claimed a 2-0 win over rival Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.
Lazio had not won the derby in six attempts prior to the teams' meeting this weekend and failed to halt that run as goals in either half ensured Roma stays within a point of joint leader Fiorentina and Inter Milan.
Rudi Garcia's men were beaten 1-0 by Inter at San Siro last time out in the league but showed no signs of fatigue from their 3-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in Europe last week, as Dzeko opened the scoring from the spot 10 minutes in.
An ankle injury for Mohamed Salah soured the derby win somewhat but Gervinho made sure of the points after the hour — Stefano Pioli's side beaten for a third consecutive league game.
Elsewhere, Geoffrey Kondogbia gave Inter its seventh 1-0 win of the league campaign before Fiorentina returned to top spot with a 2-0 success at Sampdoria — Josip Ilicic and Nikola Kalinic on target in either half.
Gonzalo Higuain joined Sampdoria striker Eder on nine Serie A goals for the campaign with an expert finish after positive work by Jorginho in Napoli's 1-0 win against Udinese.
Higuain's 200th club career goal kept Napoli fourth just ahead of Sassuolo, whose solid recent form continued with a 1-0 win over Carpi courtesy of Nicola Sansone's goal.
Juventus's recovery continued with a 3-1 win at Empoli; Mario Mandzukic, Patrice Evra and Paulo Dybala securing a second consecutive league win to move the defending champion into seventh spot after their dismal start to the campaign.
Leonardo Blanchard's acrobatic effort was the pick of the goals in Frosinone's 2-2 draw against 10-man Genoa while Alberto Gilardino gave Palermo a first win in four.
The striker struck 19 minutes from time to see off Chievo 1-0 at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.
