The Japan Times - Inter beat Empoli to keep pressure on Serie A leaders Napoli

Goals in the second half from Lautaro Martinez, Denzel Dumfries and Marcus Thuram ensured a hard-fought win for champions Inter at the San Siro.

Napoli have become the team to beat thanks to their thrilling 3-2 win at Atalanta, who are seven points off the pace in third, on Saturday but Inter also have a game in hand.

However Inter have a packed schedule due to their Champions League commitments while Napoli have no European football after their disastrous title defence last season.

As well as their final two league phase fixtures in the Champions League -- against Sparta Prague and Monaco in consecutive weeks -- Simone Inzaghi's team have the Milan derby and trips to Juventus, Napoli and Atalanta between now and mid-March.

Captain Martinez's distance effort in the 55th minute took his league total to eight goals from 18 appearances, some way off the 24 he racked up on the way to guiding Inter to their 20th league title last term.

The Argentina striker hadn't scored at home since early November before Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Bologna but his goal against Empoli was his second in as many matches at the San Siro.

Dumfries' thumping header, from Kristjan Asllani's 79th-minute corner, was key as Inter were far from their best and once Inter loanee Sebastiano Esposito halved the deficit for 14th-placed Empoli in the 79th minute a wave of worry swept the stadium.

Fans breathed a collective sign of relief 10 minutes later when Thuram swept in his 13th league goal of the campaign to seal the points and keep Inter's title defence rolling on.

- Lazio stay fourth -

Earlier Lazio stayed in Serie A's Champions League places after thumping struggling Verona 3-0.

Marco Baroni's Lazio went ahead with just a minute on the clock through Samuel Gigot in Verona, and further strikes from Boulaye Dia and captain Mattia Zaccagni put them fourth, two points above Juventus who beat AC Milan on Saturday.

Sunday's success ended a three-match winless streak for Lazio, which included derby defeat to rivals Roma, and left Verona in the relegation zone.

Verona slumped to their 14th defeat in 21 league fixtures in front of new chairman Italo Zanzi following the club's acquisition by American private equity firm Presidio Investors on Wednesday.

The new owners have a job on their hands at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi as Verona are deep in the fight against the drop, sitting in 18th place and separated by goal difference from Como who are just outside the bottom three and host Udinese on Monday.

Verona are in the drop zone due to Cagliari's 4-1 thumping of fellow strugglers Lecce which moved the Sardinian outfit up to 13th.

Just two points separate Cagliari and Verona, with Lecce, Parma -- who drew 1-1 with second-from-bottom Venezia -- and Empoli all on 20 points.

Verona, who finished the match with 10 men following Ondrej Duda's late sending off, make the short trip to regional rivals Venezia next week.

M.Yamazaki--JT