Napoli snatch Samp win as Serie A sees goal glut

An Edinson Cavani penalty helped Napoli snatch a 1-0 win away to Sampdoria which allowed them to keep pace with champions Juventus as Italy's Serie A saw goals galore on Sunday. Juventus underlined their status as title favourites with a 4-1 hammering of Roma in Turin on Saturday which made it 45 games unbeaten for the Old Lady of Turin. Napoli, however, maintained their early season title charge by dominating Sampdoria in a thrilling match decided by a disputed second-half penalty. As Marek Hamsik dribbled his way into the area the Slovakian midfielder was tripped by defender Daniele Gastaldello on the edge of the area. The referee pointed to the spot, Gastaldello was sent off and Uruguayan hitman Cavani, who scored a hat-trick in a midweek win over Lazio, stepped up to put Napoli into the lead to take his tally to five goals in six games. Along with Juventus, Napoli are now the only unbeaten side in Serie A with Sampdoria suffering their first defeat of the campaign. While Sunday's early fixture between Udinese and Genoa finished in a scoreless draw, no fewer than 22 goals were scored in six afternoon games. Diminutive striker Fabrizio Miccoli was the star for 10-man Palermo with three goals and a quasi-assist in a 4-1 win at home against Chievo, the Sicilians' first win of the season. Miccoli opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a superb curling free kick which beat 'keeper Stefano Sorrentino. Marco Rigoni levelled in the 27th minute and Chievo were given hope when Franco Brienza was sent off for handball having been booked for a foul on 14 minutes. But minutes later Miccoli took a pass on the edge of the area and muscled his way past two defenders to put Palermo into the lead. In the 80th minute Miccoli dribbled his way out of the corner along the goalline and despite missing two attempts at goal his rebound fell to Luigi Giorgi who smashed the ball past Sorrentino. Miccoli sealed his hat-trick two minutes later when he took a pass just after the centre circle and hit an audacious volley which sailed over Sorrentino and into the net. Bologna's second win of the campaign was a 4-0 thrashing of Catania. The hosts took a 19th minute lead through Tiberio Guarente and doubled their lead before half-time when Alberto Gilardino picked up a long midfield pass to beat advancing 'keeper Mariano Andujar. Gilardino grabbed his second on 61 minutes and Panagionis Kone was on hand to make it 4-0 when he slotted home the rebound from Alessandro Diamanti's attempted lob of the keeper. German Denis hit his second goal of the season to open the scoring for Atalanta, but that was to be the high point of the afternoon for the hosts as Torino went on the rampage. Rolando Bianchi levelled from the spot following a handball in the area and Alessandro Gazzi's superb glancing header past Andrea Consigli gave Torino the lead on the hour. Alen Stevanovic made it 3-1 four minutes later when he latched on to a cross from the right to send a superb angled volley past the keeper. An unmarked Danilo D'Ambrosio then got his head to a cross to beat Consigli, and in the 75th minute Bianchi grabbed his second when he beat the off-side trap to run on to a long through ball. Lazio got over their midweek setback against Napoli with a 2-1 home win over struggling Siena while Cagliari suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Pescara to remain the only team without a win in the league. On Saturday Parma held AC Milan to a 1-1 draw.