It was a fresh start for Atalanta, who parted ways with former boss Ivan Jurić during the international break following a hugely underwhelming start to the season, although a chastening first half soon robbed the visiting fans of any optimism they may have had.
After a relatively evenly-matched start to the contest, David Neres opened the scoring with a clinical close-range strike in the 17th minute, setting the wheels in motion for the home side. La Dea’s response was limited to wayward efforts from range, as despite seeing more of the ball, they struggled to carve out any clear-cut openings before the break.
With 38 minutes played, Neres doubled his tally for the evening when he was slipped through by Scott McTominay, guiding a low finish beyond Marco Carnesecchi’s reach.
That was just Napoli’s second shot on target, and they netted again with their third on the stroke of half-time, largely thanks to great play from Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who cut back and lifted a left-footed cross to the back post where Noa Lang arrived to head home.
After resisting further Napoli pressure immediately following the restart, Atalanta gave themselves a fighting chance of rescuing something from the match through an expertly taken Gianluca Scamacca volley in the 52nd minute.
Suddenly, La Dea were the team on top, coming close twice in quick succession, first via Charles De Ketelaere’s whipped strike that fizzed over the bar, shortly before Vanja Milinković-Savić scrambled to palm away substitute Scamacca’s low shot.
Fortunately for the home contingent, Napoli soon steadied the ship, aided by a triple alteration that ultimately helped see out the game to claim all three points.
As a result, the defending champions return to the top of the standings, at least temporarily, having now gone 17 games unbeaten on home turf in Serie A – they remain the only side in Europe’s top five leagues yet to taste a home league defeat in 2025.
Meanwhile, it’s now eight league games without a win for midtable Atalanta (D5, L3), their worst winless league streak since going 14 matches without victory back in 2015/16. Meanwhile,
Flashscore Man of the Match: Scott McTominay (Napoli)