Tevez hits hattrick
Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick as Juventus bounced back from their Champions League exit with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Sassuolo on Sunday which took their lead over Roma to six points.
Antonio Conte's side exited Europe's premier club competition on Wednesday after a 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in snow-hit Istanbul dropped the Italian champions to third in Group B and into the Europa League.
Conte had since set the target of winning both pre-Christmas games, at home to Sassuolo and away to Atalanta, and Juve completed the first task with consummate ease ahead of Roma's trip to Milan on Monday.
Juve remain top on 43 points and Roma have even more incentive to win in Milan on Monday after Napoli closed the gap on the Giallorossi to two points after a thrilling 4-2 win over Inter, who were left in fifth place following Fiorentina's 3-0 defeat of Bologna earlier in the day.
Inter were reduced to 10 men in the 71st minute when Ricky Alvarez saw shown a second yellow card, for handball, but by then most of the damage had been done.
Inter coach Walter Mazzarri was mostly applauded on his return to the club he steered to a second place finish last season, but he departed feeling less buoyed with Inter now winless in their last four games.
Argentinian striker Gonzalo Higuain opened the scoring for Napoli after just nine minutes when he smashed a volley past Samir Hananovic from the edge of the area.
Inter levelled on 35 minutes when Napoli's defence failed to deal with a low ball across the area and when it reached Esteban Cambiasso the Argentinian had no problem beating Rafael in the Napoli net.
Napoli restored their lead four minutes later when Dries Mertens pounced on a loose ball at the feet of teammate Blerim Dzemaili to beat Handanovic with a curling strike at his near post.
Dzemaili stretched Napoli's lead two minutes later when he tapped home Lorenzo Insigne's perfectly-weighted ball across the face of goal.
Napoli were stunned on the stroke of half-time when Yuto Nagatomo reduced arrears for the visitors.
Inter created several chances in a dramatic second but ultimately failed to capitalise.
RESULTS
Chievo 0 Sampdoria 1 (Eder 16)
Fiorentina 3 (Ilicic 13, Borja 29, Rossi 64) Bologna 0
Genoa 1 (Bertolacci 72) Atalanta 1 (De Luca 90+4)
Lazio 2 (Klose 19, 26) Livorno 0
Parma 0 Cagliari 0
Udinese 0 Torino 2 (Farnerud 48, Immobile 75)
Juventus 4 (Tevez 15, 45, 68, Peluso 28) Sassuolo 0
Napoli 4 (Higuain 9, Mertens 39, Dzemaili 41, Callejon 81) Inter 2 (Cambiasso 35, Nagatomo 45+2)
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