Extending their win streak to five consecutive matches, Napoli on Thursday routed Sampdoria 4-0, thanks to two goals from Victor Osimhen and a hattrick of assists from Hirving Lozano, capping off their perfect start to the Serie A season.
Chasing its first Italian league title since Diego Maradona led the Partenopei to their only championships in 1987 and 1990, Napoli returned to the top of the standings, two points ahead of defending champion Inter Milan and AC Milan.
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Earlier in the month, Sampdoria held Inter to a draw and were expected to put up a tough resistance against Luciano Spalletti’s side. However, Napoli negated Sampdoria tactically from the start.
Osimhen started things off when he pushed in a cross from Lorenzo Insigne at the far post, having already come close minutes earlier.
Passes from Lozano and Insigne set up Napoli’s second for Fabian Ruiz from the edge of the 18-yard box.
Osimhen then needed only one touch to redirect a Lozano cross from the centre of the area.
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Lozano registered another assist when he set up Piotr Zielinski, who pounded home another one for Napoli. The move was started by the newly acquired midfielder André Anguissa, who is on loan from Fulham.
Meanwhile, new signing Tammy Abraham impressed the local fans by singing along to the team’s anthem before a match against Udinese and later scored a first-half goal to help the Giallorossi to a 1-0 win over Udinese. The goal was Abraham’s third since joining from European champion Chelsea in a transfer valued at 40 million euros ($47 million).
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Abraham was set up with a cross from Riccardo Calafiori.
With the victory, Roma moved one point behind the Milan clubs with its seventh win in eight matches across all competitions under Jose Mourinho.
With inputs from the Associated Press
