Napoli slay Atalanta in Serie A thriller to go 6 points clear

Romelu Lukaku fired Napoli six points clear at the top of Serie A with the decisive goal in Saturday's thrilling 3-2 win at title rivals Atalanta.

Belgium striker Lukaku nodded home his eighth Napoli goal from Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa's perfect cross in the 78th minute to give Antonio Conte's team a statement win in Bergamo.

Matteo Politano and Scott McTominay also scored for Napoli, who have 50 points from 21 matches and have made it clear that they are now the team to beat in this year's title race after scoring three times from their only shots on target.

"I can't say whether it's my most important goal (for Napoli) but the win is important. We showed tonight that we're a top team," said Lukaku to Sky.

Napoli are gunning for a second Scudetto in three seasons and await the response from champions and closest challengers Inter Milan - who also have a game in hand - against struggling Empoli on Sunday.

A sixth straight win is the perfect boost Napoli need for another massive clash with Conte's old team Juventus, in Naples, this time next week.

"It's another test for us, to see where we are," added Lukaku.

"It's easy after a win like tonight's to get slack and not keep going. We can't do that, we need to continue playing the way we're playing."

Lukaku also dealt a blow to Atalanta's unprecedented title bid, as the provincial upstarts fell to their first league defeat since late September.

Gian Piero Gasperini's team took the lead in the 16th minute through Serie A's leading scorer Mateo Retegui and looked on the way to a huge win once Ademola Lookman levelled the scores nine minutes after half-time.

But Atalanta are now seven points off the title pace in third after failing to win in four matches, with their previous three all drawn.

Atalanta also have Champions League football to contend with and face Sturm Graz and Barcelona in the next 10 days, while Napoli have no European distractions due to their disastrous title defence last season.

"It's difficult to digest this defeat for how the match went, for how we played," said Gasperini.

"We got nothing from this match but we played with great quality against an undoubtedly good team. We can only get stronger from this."