Romelu Lukaku left it late to earn Napoli a huge victory in their quest for the Serie A title, with his header helping Antonio Conte's side to a 3-2 victory over Atalanta.

Napoli are now six points clear of Inter at the summit of the standings, but Simone Inzaghi's side have two games in hand over the Partenopei.

Mateo Retegui fired Atalanta into a 16th minute lead, collecting Ederson's pass inside the box before rifling the ball past Alex Meret's near post.

But Napoli entered the break in front when Matteo Politano fired the ball into the roof of the net before Scott McTominay converted from Frank Anguissa's cutback.

Atalanta hit back 10 minutes after the restart through Ademola Lookman, after he skipped past Matteo Ruggeri's challenge before sending a left-footed strike past Meret.

However, with 12 minutes remaining, Lukaku popped up with the winner, brilliantly glancing Anguissa's cross into the area beyond the grasp of Marco Carnesecchi.

Napoli have won six games in a row in Serie A for the first time under Conte as manager and for the first time since February 2023 (eight under Luciano Spalletti).

Data Debrief: Away day delight

Much of the pre-match noise surrounded Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, but Napoli proved they can get results without him, enjoying another memorable fixture on the road in the process.

Napoli have now won eight of their first 11 away games in a single Serie A campaign (won eight, drawn two, lost one) only for the third time in their history, having managed 10 in 2017-18 and nine in 2022-23 at this stage of the season.

Conte's side have won 50 points after their first 21 league games. Only three times have they had more after the same number of games in the Italian top-flight (51 in 1987-88, 54 in 2017-18 and 56 in 2022-23).

And the win was decided by their master marksman, with Lukaku now the only player to score more than five goals and provide more than five assists in Serie A this season (eight goals and six assists).