Udinese came down to earth with a bump this week. After holding Inter to a one-all draw last week they hosted Serie A newly promoted Napoli.
Last week Napoli lost their first home game in this season's campaign, by going down two-nil to Cagliari. The first time they'd lost at home for over two years.
After sixteen minutes, Napoli took the lead through Zalayeta after Lavezzi took the ball down the left side and pulled it back to him for an easy shot at the near post. After dominating most of the first half Napoli made it two just before the break when a corner kick, flicked on by Cannavaro found its way into the back of the net from a Domizzi eight-yard volley. Lavezzi, the man of the match, scored himself in the 65th minute after picking up a cross field pass from Gargano and smashed home a sweet goal into the corner of the net. Zalayeta made four with his second of the day after 72 minutes after a defensive error, and Lavezzi, Napoli's darling today laid on the fifth for his fellow Argentine, Sosa, with nine minutes to play. Napoli's manager Reja must have been worried about losing his job this week, but now he should be safe for a while.
At the Stadio Picchi, Palermo got off to a flying start and were four-nil up by half time with goals by Rinaudo in the 10th, Miccoli 23rd and 37th, and Amauri 42nd. Livorno the home side pulled two back in the second half through Rossini in the 55th and Grandoni in the 74th; Palermo coming out winners 4-2.
Juventus kept up their winning streak in what turned out to be a hard fought game against last-year's draw experts Cagliari. This game had everything from questionable refereeing, two penalties, both scored by Foggia for the home side, to a last gasp goal to give Juve the points. All the goals came in the second half with Juve's goals coming from Trezeguet, Del Piero and Chiellini. This game always felt like a draw and so Juventus will be more than happy to take the three points.
Elsewhere, Inter returned to form by beating Empoli 2-0 at their place and Roma put three unanswered goals past Siena, with Totti scoring the third.
I have updated the scores and tables following the Milan-Fiorentina 1-1 draw on Monday evening.
THIS WEEK'S RESULTS
Atalanta 2-0 Parma
Cagliari 2-3 Juventus
Catania 0-0 Genoa
Empoli 0-2 Inter (Sat eve.)
Livorno 2-4 Palermo
Milan 1-1 Fiorentina (Mon)
Roma 3-0 Siena
Sampdoria 0-0 Lazio (eve.)
Torino 2-2 Reggina
Udinese 0-5 Napoli
SERIE A TABLE
Pts P W D L F A
Juventus 6 2 2 0 0 8 3
Roma 6 2 2 0 0 5 0
Milan 4 2 1 1 0 4 1
Fiorentina 4 2 1 1 0 4 2
Atalanta 4 2 1 1 0 3 1
Inter 4 2 1 1 0 3 1
Sampdoria 4 2 1 1 0 2 1
Napoli 3 2 1 0 1 5 2
Cagliari 3 2 1 0 1 4 3
Palermo 3 2 1 0 1 4 4
Torino 2 2 0 2 0 4 4
Reggina 2 2 0 2 0 3 3
Catania 2 2 0 2 0 2 2
Lazio 2 2 0 2 0 2 2
Parma 1 2 0 1 1 2 4
Genoa 1 2 0 1 1 0 3
Udinese 1 2 0 1 1 1 6
Empoli 0 2 0 0 2 1 5
Siena 0 2 0 0 2 1 5
Livorno 0 2 0 0 2 3 9