Serie A roundup: Dessers, Lookman, Osimhen on target, Udinese, Lazio fail to settle accounts

Week 10 of Italy's Serie A saw narrow wins for the league's top two contenders, Napoli and Atalanta, who had to thank their Nigerian players for their victories while Lazio and Udinese settled for nothing. 'a draw.

There were very many similarities between the week 9 and 10 results, except for the scarcity of goals. Three away wins, four home wins and three draws saw 22 goals scored in the matches which spanned from Friday to Monday.

Bologna took Napoli by the wire, and they needed substitute Victor Osimhen to come off the bench and score the winning goal.

Osimhen, who returned from injury last week against Ajax in the Champions League, came off the bench early in the second half and scored the winning goal in the 69th minute.

The Nigerian received a nice pass from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and squeezed the ball between the keeper's legs.

The visitors scored first, against the run of play, through Joshua Zirkzee in the 41st minute, but Juan Jesus restored parity in the last minute of the first half.

Osimhen replaced Giacomo Raspadori in the 46th minute and contributed significantly by scoring the winning goal which kept Napoli top of the table with a two-point cushion over Atalanta.

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Sassuolo nearly held second-placed Atalanta until Ademola Lookman struck in the second half. It was the Nigerian striker's third goal in three consecutive appearances for La Dea. He is also joint top scorer alongside Teun Koopmeiners, with four goals for his club. But they have to be grateful to Brandon Soppy, who provided both assists for the goals.

Cyriel Dessers' goal was not enough for 19th-placed Cremonese, who were forced into a 2-2 draw against Spezia. The Nigerian striker netted his second goal of the season in the second minute to complete his effort last week in Cremonese's 4-1 loss to Napoli.

Lazio and Udinese battled to a goalless draw at the Stadio Olimpico to fall to fifth and sixth places respectively. The stalemate sent AC Milan and Jose Mourinho's Roma to third and fourth place after narrow wins over Verona and Sampdoria, respectively.

Things have yet to improve for Dejan Stankovic as his shaky Sampdoria side recorded their seventh loss to Roma by just one goal on Monday. Lorenzo Pellegrini's kick in the ninth minute was the difference in the game.

Dusan Vlahovic's hard-earned goal for Juventus against Turin stabilized a shaky start to the season for the Old Lady, who sit in eighth place. It was the sixth league goal of the season for the Serb.

Thus, the top two places remained unchanged, with Napoli and Atalanta having 26 and 24 points respectively. AC Milan and Roma have usurped Lazio and Udinese and have 23 and 22 points respectively.

The trio Verona, Cremonese and Sampdoria, who failed to get maximum points over the weekend, occupy the bottom three places in the table. Meanwhile, Sampdoria are currently the biggest losers.

Next weekend, the focus will be on the four main matchups. Top-flight Napoli visit Mourinho's Roma while Atalanta host Lazio.

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