NAPLES, Italy, April 24 : Napoli cruised to a 4-0 win at home to Cremonese on Friday, a result which means Serie A leaders Inter Milan will have to wait at least another week to celebrate the title win and leaves the visitors in serious relegation trouble.
Napoli are second in the standings on 69 points, nine behind Inter who are away to Torino on Sunday and three points ahead of AC Milan who host Juventus.
Cremonese are third from bottom, level on 28 points with Lecce who are in the safety zone ahead of a trip to Hellas Verona on Saturday. Verona are second from bottom on 18 points and look Serie B bound along with bottom club Pisa.
With their title defence all but over, Napoli were still keen to impress after a dismal performance last weekend when they failed to register a single shot on target in a 2-0 home loss to Lazio.
“After Lazio, we spoke, I coach intelligent guys and they understood what didn’t work,” Napoli boss Antonio Conte told DAZN before kickoff.
“Today we have to get back on track.”
Conte’s men duly obliged.
Scott McTominay was denied by the onrushing keeper Emil Audero in an early attack but his opening goal quickly followed in the third minute.
McTominay collected Kevin De Bruyne’s pass, took one touch to control before rifling a low shot to the bottom corner of the net for his ninth league goal of the season.
Napoli created plenty of chances before doubling their lead on the stroke of halftime with an own goal.
Rasmus Hojlund slipped as he got his shot away but the ball took a wicked deflection off Filippo Terracciano to wrongfoot Audero and Napoli finished the game off in stoppage time before the break.
After McTominay made an acrobatic pullback from the byline to keep the ball in play, De Bruyne battled to win possession from Youssef Maleh in the area and drilled his shot beyond Audero.
Napoli continued where they left off after the interval. Keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic threw the ball to Alisson Santos who ran the length of the pitch unchallenged before firing home from the edge of the area.
Amir Rrahmani rattled the Cremonese crossbar and Audero denied McTominay from the penalty spot late on as Napoli failed to add to their goal tally, but Conte, and the home fans, will be more than happy with an impressive performance.
