Napoli will have the upper hand over Juventus heading into next weekend's Serie A title showdown in Turin after both Scudetto rivals secured narrow wins.

The table-topping Azzurri are two points clear of reigning champions Juve following their slender 1-0 victory over Carpi. Gonzalo Higuain's 24th goal of the season came from the penalty spot after Raffaele Bianco was dismissed.

Juve would have drawn level with Napoli before hosting the southerners on Saturday had their 2-0 triumph at Frosinone been coupled with a stalemate at the Stadio San Paolo - but they celebrated making history nonetheless.

Juan Cuadrado left it late to open the scoring with in-form forward Paulo Dybala notching in stoppage time to ensure Juve had managed to win 14 consecutive league games for the first time ever.

Inter's hopes of snatching the Scudetto continue to fade as the Nerazzurri were held to a 3-3 draw by basement boys Hellas Verona at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi.

Roberto Mancini's men recovered from two goals down after Filip Helander, Eros Pisano and Artur Ionita replied to Jeison Murillo's early opener. Captain Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perisic then struck to salvage a point for Inter.

Elsewhere, Udinese checked Milan's progress up the table by forcing a 1-1 draw at San Siro. Pablo Armero returned to hurt his former employers, meaning M'Baye Niang had to equalise for sixth-placed Milan.

Just behind the Rossoneri are Sassuolo, who were themselves thwarted by lowly opposition.

Struggling Palermo took the lead through Franco Vazquez and Uros Djurdjevic guaranteed them a share of the spoils from a 2-2 draw after Gregoire Defrel and Simone Missiroli had come to Sassuolo's rescue. The Sicilians later lost Achraf Lazaar to a red card.

Chievo are 10th after beating Torino 2-1 at the Stadio Olimpico.

Marco Benassi fired the Granata ahead only for a Bruno Peres own goal and Valter Birsa's late penalty to condemn the hosts to a fourth straight defeat.

In the late games, Roma resisted a late Sampdoria fightback to record a 2-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico.

Goals from Alessandro Florenzi and new signing Diego Perotti gave the Giallorossi a healthy lead, but Fernando's response for Samp set nerves jangling.

Wojciech Szczesny preserved the three points with a point-blank save from Antonio Cassano at the death.

Atalanta and Empoli earlier played out a disappointing goalless draw in Bergamo.

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