There was a real sense of anticipation at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona after Inter Milan’s earlier home loss to Roma, and it took just seven minutes for Gli Azzurri to inspire rapturous celebrations.
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa made a burst into the box to meet Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s ball with a first-time pass to McTominay, who made no mistake with his finish.
His compatriot Che Adams missed a big opportunity at the other end shortly after, and Eljif Elmas then had a shot blocked.
Contrary to what the final score suggests, both teams had periods where they controlled possession, and Romelu Lukaku almost stole it from Guillermo Maripan when he cut out the centre-back’s pass in his own box, but was left exasperated when the ball bounced out of play.
Napoli still remained patient, though, and were rewarded in the 42nd minute when McTominay got on the scoresheet again, reaching Matteo Politano’s dinked cross ahead of Cesare Casadei and applying another clinical first-time finish.
Torino saw plenty of the ball after the restart but were still unable to work Alex Meret, with Alessandro Buongiorno authoritatively blocking Karol Linetty’s powerful strike.
There was still a blow in store for the hosts, though, with Anguissa and Buongiorno being forced off injured within six minutes of each other.
Yet, Napoli still looked comfortable, as best encapsulated by Torino going the whole match without recording a shot on target, and they struggled to even get a touch of the ball at times.
There was even more injury concern for Antonio Conte, though, with Stanislav Lobotka hobbling off in the closing minutes, but Napoli didn’t look troubled as they earned their third consecutive win to go three points ahead of Inter at the top of the table with just four Serie A matches left to play.
In contrast, Torino have lost two of their last three matches, after suffering defeat just once in their previous 14 games, although they remain 10th.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Scott McTominay (Napoli)