With each of the three teams in the chasing pack winning ahead of kick-off at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, Napoli knew they had a task on their hands against a side they had failed to beat in their last four head-to-head meetings.
And Antonio Conte’s men started on the front foot, as Giovanni Di Lorenzo broke into the Lazio box before squaring the ball to Scott McTominay, whose effort was tipped around the post by Ivan Provedel. The Scotsman was proving dangerous for the Azzurri as he headed wide from Matteo Politano’s delivery into the box.
Despite Napoli dominating the early stages, it was the visitors who came closest to breaking the deadlock midway through the half. Gustav Isaksen broke down the right flank, cut inside, and unleashed a powerful effort that forced Alex Meret to palm the ball away.
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa came closest for the hosts after he flicked the ball up with his back to goal and volleyed goalwards, but Provedel turned it around the post. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was having a quiet evening by his standards but the Georgian forward almost ended the half with a sublime free-kick strike from distance, as his powerful effort flew inches wide of the post with the last kick before half-time.
Lazio came out with renewed endeavour following the restart, and they came within a whisker of opening the scoring as Fisayo Dele-Bashiru picked up the ball 30 yards out and rifled a rocket onto the crossbar.
Conte would have been disappointed with his side’s showing after the interval, as Napoli failed to hit the target in the opening 25 minutes of the second half. Anguissa did clip the woodwork with a header from point-blank range as it began to look like the goal was never going to arrive for the Partenopei.
The goal did arrive for Lazio on 79 minutes, however.
A quick break up field culminated with Tijjani Noslin picking out Isaksen, who took an exceptional first touch and finished into the far corner with a curling shot from outside the box.
Conte rang the changes in a desperate attempt to salvage at least a point but Lazio held on for a victory which will be celebrated in Bergamo, as Atalanta BC sit top of the table with their pursuit for a first-ever Serie A title well and truly on.
Napoli travel to Udinese next week as they look to turn their form around after consecutive losses to Lazio following their Coppa Italia defeat in midweek.