The Japan Times - Napoli miss chance to extend Serie A lead with Udinese draw

Scott McTominay put the hosts ahead in the first half at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, but Jurgen Ekkelenkamp equalised shortly afterwards and Napoli could not find a winner.

Napoli were given the opportunity to stretch their advantage at the top of the table by Inter's 3-0 loss at Fiorentina in midweek -- a game which was originally stopped in December after home midfielder Edoardo Bove suffered a heart attack.

Reigning champions Inter could cut the gap back to three points when they host Fiorentina on Monday.

Atalanta are also still in the hunt for their first-ever Scudetto, sitting just five points behind Napoli after their 5-0 thrashing of Verona on Saturday.

Napoli struggled to break down their opponents for much of the first half, with Lorenzo Lucca firing an early chance just wide for Udinese.

But the Serie A pace-setters broke the deadlock in the 37th minute as McTominay climbed highest to head Matteo Politano's corner into the net for his sixth league goal of the season.

Udinese hit back just three minutes later, though, as Napoli gave away possession in their own half and Dutch midfielder Ekkelenkamp fired a dipping strike into the bottom corner from long range.

Napoli dominated for long periods in the second half but failed to create many clear-cut opportunities and dropped points for a second consecutive weekend after a 1-1 draw at Roma last time out.

- Lazio into fourth -

Earlier, Lazio crushed last-placed Monza 5-1 in Rome to climb back into the top four.

Adam Marusic nodded the home team in front on 31 minutes and they ran away with the game after half-time.

Pedro scored twice and Taty Castellanos once, before Stefano Sensi converted an 86th-minute penalty for the visitors.

Two minutes later, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru restored Lazio's four-goal lead.

Italian media reported that Monza had sacked coach Salvatore Bocchetti after the game and were lining up Alessandro Nesta to replace him.

Roma had a tougher time away to second-bottom Venezia, winning 1-0 with a 57th-minute penalty by Paulo Dybala, a pre-match doubt.

"I didn't want him to play at all, but he told me 'I want to play'," said Roma coach Claudio Ranieri. "I didn't want to risk him."

The win lifted Roma to ninth in the table.

Eighth-placed Bologna dropped seven points behind Lazio after a goalless stalemate, their 11th league draw of the season, at Lecce.

Florinel Coman scored on his debut as Cagliari beat another relegation-haunted side Parma 2-1 in Sardinia.

The hosts took the lead when Parma's Alessandro Vogliacco deflected Michel Adopo's flick into his own net.

Coman then blasted in a long-range goal to put Cagliari two goals up.

Giovanni Leoni headed a consolation goal for Parma, who stayed third from bottom. Cagliari jumped to 13th, four points clear of their beaten opponents.

S.Suzuki--JT