Serie A round-up: Antonio Conte's Napoli stay top, narrow victories ...

A Khvicha Kvaratskhelia penalty earned Napoli a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Empoli at Stadio Carlo Castellani to keep the visitors top of Serie A.

I Partenopei were below par against their mid-table opposition, who will likely feel aggrieved to have lost a game of few chances.

But Napoli have struggled to beat Empoli in recent years, losing twice to the Tuscan club in Serie A last season on the way to a dismal 10th-place finish.

"We were spectators in the first half, without any fire or determination, only a lot of nerves," Conte told Sky Sport Italy.

"We must take first place in the table with the right kind of responsibility, not with nerves. Enjoy what we are doing and face the matches without the burden of watching other teams, only thinking about ourselves.

"Today we could have received a big blow, and we would have gone from elation to depression. We need to celebrate every match that we win, because you always have to work for it."

AC Milan dug out a valuable 1-0 win over Udinese despite playing for over an hour with 10 men, after Tijjani Reijnders was controversially sent off for bringing down Sandi Lovric.

Samuel Chukwueze's 13th-minute goal - slotted coolly into the bottom left corner after good work from Noah Okafor and Christian Pulisic - was enough for the hosts at San Siro, though Udinese came close to levelling.

Kingsley Ehizibue thought he had equallised just before half-time but VAR intervened to rule him offside.

And in the dying seconds the visitors had the ball in the net again, this time through a Christian Kabasele - only for another VAR check to disallow the goal because Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, who had shot moments earlier, was offside.

It was a much-needed victory for Paulo Fonseca's side, who moved up to fourth in Serie A and bounced back from defeat at Fiorentina two weeks ago.

"I must say that the game had two parts," Fonseca told DAZN. "The first one until minute 30 when we received a red card.

"We played 30 minutes with great personality and quality. It was close to my idea. After the red card, it was a game made of team spirit.

"We suffered, but we suffered together. If there was any doubt on whether this team was united, today we proved we are."

Juventus appeared to be heading for another frustrating draw, having been held by a Lazio team reduced to 10 men when Alessio Romagnoli was sent off for bringing down Pierre Kalulu on the edge of the box just 24 minutes in.

Marco Baroni's side had 30% possession and only registered two shots, but they defended vigilantly against a Juventus side lacking a creative spark at Allianz Stadium.

Dusan Vlahovic hit the bar in the second half and Douglas Luiz sent a header just wide from close range, but it was not until the 85th minute that the Bianconeri found a way through.

Juan Cabal's low cross from the left was diverted into the Lazio net by defender Mario Gila, who put his head to his hands in despair.

It was a sickening defeat for Lazio, but the Juventus players and fans celebrated jubilantly. Thiago Motta's side remain unbeaten, with four wins and four draws, having conceded just one goal.

“I liked many things about the performance, above all the patience we showed in the second half. It was not easy, as even down to 10 men, Lazio are a very generous side who defend well,” Motta told Sky Sport Italy.

“With the enthusiasm of the crowd wanting to see us get into the box, at times the lads were a little bit too frenetic and went for goal at the wrong moment.

“We did better in the second half, the goal arrived at the right time, as Lazio were getting pinned back and under constant pressure.

“It is an important and fully deserved win for us, as it is never easy to score against Lazio.”

Fiorentina outlined their intentions to challenge for a top-four finish this season with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Lecce.

Danilo Cataldi and Andrea Colpani scored twice, with Lucas Beltran and Fabiano Parisi finishing off the thrashing.

The home side were a man down just before half-time, when Antonino Gallo was shown a straight red.

But they were second best throughout against a fluid and clinical Fiorentina side, who now sit fifth in Serie A under new manager Raffaele Palladino.

October has been a productive month for La Viola so far: a 2-1 win over AC Milan before the international break proved they mean business this season, and their latest eye-catching result will further boost confidence.

Inter Milan moved back up to second in the table after edging out Roma with a 1-0 victory at the Stadio Olimpico.

The Nerazzurri moved within two points of Napoli at the top when Lautaro Martinez struck on the hour mark and sealed a fifth consecutive win for Simone Inzaghi's men across all competitions.

The reigning champions had Yann Sommer to thank for making a fine save in the first half to keep out Lorenzo Pellegrini's ferocious strike.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan came close for Inter when his volley cannoned off the crossbar in an entertaining but goalless first half.

Ivan Juric's side then scored the only goal of this contest, as Martinez became the joint-highest scoring foreign player in Inter’s history.

The Argentina international scored his 133rd goal for the club to equal the total set by Stefano Nyers, according to Opta.

Roma’s defending left a lot to be desired, with the visitors capitalising on lapses in concentration from Nicola Zalewski and Zeki Celik.

Davide Frattesi intercepted the Poland international before floating a delivery into the box which Celik miscontrolled and Martinez rifled home a fierce effort.

Artem Dovbyk had a chance to restore parity for the hosts when he headed wide from close range, while Mile Svilar prevented Inter from extending their lead after making two superb saves to deny Denzel Dumfries and Marcus Thuram.

Atalanta climbed to sixth with a 2-0 win over Venezia on Sunday afternoon, courtesy of goals from Mario Pasalic and Mateo Retegui. The latter now has eight goals in eight league appearances this season.

On Saturday, Cesc Fabregas's Como were held to a 1-1 draw by Parma, and Genoa came from 2-0 down to rescue a point against Bologna thanks to a late brace from Andrea Pinamonti.

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