Empoli 0-2 Napoli: Luciano Spalletti’s side march on at top of Serie A table with win on the road

Napoli reinforced their iron grip on the Serie A title race with a 2-0 victory at Empoli on Saturday evening.

Not since the days of Diego Maradona have Napoli won the title, but they look set to get their hands on the Scudetto for the first time since the Argentina legend led them to glory for a second time in 1990.

Luciano Spalletti’s side have been by a distance the best side in Italy this term.

Pressure can do strange things to a team who have gone over 30 years without tasting title glory, but there are no signs of them faltering at the moment.

Napoli travelled to mid-table Empoli on Saturday evening and made no mistake, taking charge of the game early on and controlling it for large swathes of the contest.

Spalletti’s charges took the lead on 17 minutes when Ardian Ismajli sliced Piotr Zielinski’s cross into his own net.

The advantage was doubled on 28 minutes by Victor Osimhen. The Nigerian has been catching the eye after breaking Serie A speed records this term.

He is pretty efficient in front of goal too, and was on hand to stab the ball home after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s shot from the edge of the box had been parried into his path by Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Napoli were never threatened in the second half, although there was a sour note for the league leaders as Mario Rui was shown a straight red card for lashing out at Francesco Caputo on 68 minutes.

The win enabled Napoli to extend their lead in Serie A to 18 points over Inter Milan who face Bologna on Sunday.