Osimhen fires again as Napoli surges clear
Victor Osimhen hit his 10th Serie A goal since the turn of the year as leader Napoli stretched its advantage to 18 points by winning 2-0 at Empoli on Sunday (AEDT).
The Nigerian has scored in his past eight domestic league games, with his efforts bringing a long-awaited Scudetto ever closer.
An early own goal from Ardian Ismajli gave Napoli a strong start, and Osimhen soon doubled the lead with an easy finish as the hosts failed to clear their lines.
The victory on the road was tarnished by Mario Rui petulantly kicking out at Francesco Caputo and receiving a red card following a video assistant referee (VAR) check, but with games running out the Naples giant is looking unstoppable.
A 17th-minute breakthrough arrived when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's ball from left to right was volleyed across goal by Piotr Zielinski, and Ismajli bundled the ball into his own net from close range.
It was 2-0 in the 28th minute and again Kvaratskhelia was involved, with his skidding shot parried by Guglielmo Vicario to the lurking Osimhen, who had a simple task of tucking past the floored goalkeeper.
Napoli moved in for the kill, and Kim Min-jae hit the underside of the bar from close range with an attempted header that turned into an effort off his shoulder.
Empoli won the corresponding game 3-2 last season after being 2-0 down, sealing a league double, so Napoli knew it had to be wary of a fightback from the mid-table host.
Osimhen thought he had scored again just before the hour when he ran in behind the Empoli defence and tucked home while stumbling under pressure, but he was narrowly offside when the pass was played.
The task was complicated for Napoli when its former Empoli left-back Rui was red-carded for his cheap shot at Caputo, catching the striker in a tender spot.
With a quarter of the game remaining, Napoli boss Luciano Spalletti responded by bringing off forwards Kvaratskhelia and Hirving Lozano, replacing them with midfielder Eljif Elmas and defender Mathias Olivera. In truth, Empoli never looked like taking advantage of its extra man and repeating last season's comeback heroics, having been firmly put in its place this time.
