ROME: With a three-goal burst in the space of five minutes, Napoli showed why many beli­eve the southern club has the potential to win their first Serie A title in nearly three decades.

Overturning an early deficit, Kalidou Kouli­baly, Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens scored early in the second half of a 4-1 win over Lazio on Wednesday to extend Napoli’s perfect record.

Jorginho rounded things off with a stoppage-time penalty after Stefan de Vrij had given Lazio a halftime lead.

Napoli have a maximum 15 points from five games, the same as six-time defending champions Juventus who beat Fiorentina 1-0 thanks to Mario Mandzukic’s 53rd-minute header. Fiorentina had Milan Badelj sent off.

Napoli top the table on goal difference.

“Napoli have grown a lot and will fight for the title,” Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri said.

Both Napoli and champions Juve moved two points above Inter Milan who were held 1-1 at Bologna on Tuesday.

AC Milan are fourth after beating SPAL 2-0 — Ricardo Rodriguez and Franck Kessie both converting penalties.

Edin Dzeko continued his rich vein of form as he scored twice for AS Roma in a 4-0 thrashing of Benevento 4-0 at the Stadio Vigorito — their ninth consecutive away victory in Serie A.

Roma are seventh with nine points, although they have played a game less than all the sides ahead of them.

Torino are up to fifth after a 3-2 win at Udinese, while Lazio are sixth.

Atalanta Bergamo were the night’s biggest winners, beating Crotone 5-1 with Alejandro Gomez scoring twice.

Crotone and Benevento are already relegation candidates with a point between them as they sit rock bottom.

Napoli have won their opening five games of a Serie A season for the first time since 1987-88 when they were reigning champions and their attack featured Diego Maradona.

They were second best in the first half though against Lazio who took the lead when Ciro Immobile burst down the right and cut back for De Vrij to fire home from close range after 29 minutes.

But injuries to defenders Bastos and then De Vrij turned the tide in favour of Napoli. Kouli­baly levelled after 54 minutes before Marek Hamsik set up Callejon to score from 12 yards.

Napoli were running riot and Mertens scored an incredible third, hooking the ball home from a tight angle having been forced wide by Lazio keeper Thomas Strakosha.

Lorenzo Insigne nearly added another, but his effort hit the post a few minutes later before Jorginho added the fourth from the spot as the clock ticked.

“I wasn’t worried at halftime. The team was doing well, but so was Lazio and they went ahead on one of the few chances conceded,” Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri said. “The lads did well in the second half. We turned things around.”

After a tense first half, Mandzukic found the opening for Juve with a diving header after 53 minutes off a Juan Cuadrado cross.

Fiorentina were reduced to ten men for the final half an hour after midfielder Badelj saw red but Juve wasted a series of chances to extend its lead.

“These games teach that to win you have to suffer, 1-0 is a good result,” said Allegri ahead of this weekend’s Turin derby. “We have to advance calmly, step by step. The derby will be a nice match, we will have a few days to recover.”

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2017