Juventus on Napoli's heels

Champions Juventus kept pace with Serie A leaders Napoli on Saturday after a hard-fought 1-0 win over title-rivals AS Roma.

Moroccan Medhi Benatia scored the only goal against his former club after 18 minutes in Turin as Juventus remain one point behind leaders Napoli -- who have 45 from 18 games -- with Inter Milan five points adrift in third after losing 1-0 at Sassuolo, and Roma in fourth.

It was the first time that Roma have trailed this season away but Eusebio Di Francesco's side could not find a way back, despite almost equalising in injury time when Patrik Schick hit the crossbar.

Juventus also had chances to increase their advantage with Gonzalo Higuain wasteful and Miralem Pjanic's stoppage time effort cleared by Alisson by the tips of his fingers.

"Roma and Napoli are candidates for the Scudetto. Inter are still up there and so are Lazio," said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Di Francesco, whose Roma side sit seven points behind Napoli and six off Juventus, said: "The team could have done a lot better, maybe we were a bit inhibited, against a team like Juventus you can't afford to make mistakes."

Despite their remarkable start to the season, Inter have taken just a single point from their last three matches, with back-to-back losses to Udinese and Sassuolo.