Napoli leave it late to go top of Serie A

Mueez Ajao

– Giacomo Raspadori left it very late indeed, but Napoli finally broke Spezia down for three precious Serie A points.

– The Partenopei were fired up after beating Liverpool 4-1 here in the Champions League this week, but lost Victor Osimhen for a month to a thigh strain, so Giacomo Raspadori stepped in. Spezia were without a win in four, missing Daniele Verde, Albin Ekdal, Daniel Maldini, Kelvin Amian and Salva Ferrer, but Ethan Ampadu was ready for his debut.

– Kvicha Kvaratskhelia received the award before kick-off as Serie A Player of the Month for August and immediately proved why, skipping past two players with a double nutmeg before his shot was charged down by Nikolaou.

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– He then forced a one-handed low save from Bartlomiej Dragowski with an angled drive, and another block after shimmying past two defenders, while Eljif Elmas saw his attempt deflected just wide.

– Like the other time Tanguy Ndombele started, he was replaced at half-time by Stanislav Lobotka.

– Dragowski used his legs to parry the Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa effort from the edge of the box and palmed the Piotr Zielinski rocket over the bar, before Elmas nodded off target.

– Spezia almost scored after Kiwior pounced on a misplaced Mario Rui header back to Meret at the near post and Amir Rrahmani had to perform a goal-line clearance.

– Raspadori wasted a couple of promising opportunities and Hirving Lozano hit the side-netting at the back post when Dragowski flapped at a corner.

– It was a late siege from the hosts and it paid off, as in the final minute of regular time, Lozano controlled a long ball and pulled it back across the front of goal, finding Raspadori to sweep in at the back post for his first goal in the Napoli jersey.

– Luciano Spalletti and a member of the Spezia staff were sent off in a discussion about how much extra time was awarded.