Napoli extend Serie A lead to eight points after Milan held at Cremonese

Napoli’s Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski (L) celebrates with Napoli’s Italian defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Napoli’s South Korean defender Min-jae Kim after scoring his side’s second goal during the Italian Serie A football match between Napoli and Empoli on November 8, 2022 at the Diego-Maradona stadium in Naples. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)

Napoli extended their lead at the top of Serie A to eight points on Tuesday after beating Empoli 2-0 to claim their 10th straight league win, before nearest challengers AC Milan drew 0-0 with struggling Cremonese.

Hirving Lozano’s 69th-minute spot-kick and a neat late finish from Piotr Zielinski ensured hosts Napoli made their way past a resilient Empoli side and moved further ahead of Milan, whose title defence is faltering.

Napoli now have an ominous lead on the rest of the league heading into the final matches of 2022 this weekend, as they hunt their first league title in over three decades.

“The road ahead is still long and there are many pitfalls. We need to stay at it and be aware of the importance of the challenges ahead of us,” said coach Luciano Spalletti to DAZN.

Empoli, who finished with 10 men as Sebastiano Luperto picked up a second booking shortly after Lozano’s goal, stay 14th and seven points above the relegation zone.

The Tuscans beat Napoli twice last season and all-but ended their Scudetto challenge in April when they came back from two goals behind to stun Spalletti’s side.

And on Tuesday they frustrated Napoli, who were without injured wing wizard Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, for large periods of the match.

Napoli were awarded their soft penalty after Razvan Marin was judged to have fouled Victor Osimhen, five minutes after the Nigeria striker had headed over the home