Napoli extended their unbeaten home run in Serie A to 21 matches (W15, D6) with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sassuolo at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, reinforcing their bid to retain the Scudetto.

After three consecutive draws had allowed league leaders Inter Milan to pull clear, Napoli struck early to assert themselves. Stanislav Lobotka opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a rare goal, sending a side-foot volley past Arijanet Muric after a slight deflection off Tarik Muharemovic. It was Lobotka’s first goal since the opening day of the 2022/23 campaign.

Sassuolo responded strongly, threatening Napoli’s advantage despite nearly falling further behind when Giovanni Di Lorenzo headed narrowly wide. The visitors went into halftime just one goal down, coming agonisingly close to an equaliser when Aster Vranckx’s header slipped under Vanja Milinkovic-Savic but did not cross the line.

Sassuolo, who had lost all seven previous Serie A games in which they trailed at halftime, sought to break that pattern in the second half. Milinkovic-Savic was called into action to save Luca Lipani’s low strike, keeping Napoli ahead.

A lull followed as both sides struggled to create clear chances late in the match. In the dying minutes, a loose pass from Muric almost allowed Scott McTominay to score from range, but his powerful effort narrowly missed, leaving the score unchanged.

The win keeps Napoli in third place, six points behind Inter, and extends their dominance over Sassuolo, having won each of their last seven meetings and suffering just one home defeat against them (W10, D2).

Sassuolo, meanwhile, have now gone seven league matches without a win (D3, L4) and have failed to score in their last three encounters. The streak leaves Fabio Grosso’s side firmly in midtable, nine points clear of the relegation zone but increasingly aware of the chasing pack.