Felipe Caicedo snatched a late winner to keep Lazio third in Serie A with a 2-1 victory over Sassuolo on Sunday, as England defender Chris Smalling scored and set up two other goals for city rivals Roma in a win against Brescia to move fourth.
Champions Juventus maintained their grip on the top of Serie A with a 3-1 win at Atalanta on Saturday, to stay one point ahead of Inter Milan who eased past Torino 3-0 under the rain in Turin.
The two Roman outfits are now third and fourth respectively before Cagliari, a point behind in fifth, play at lowly Lecce on Monday after their game Sunday was washed out.
"It's an important success," said Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi.
"Third place consolidated? It's still early, we are there and the others too, every day things can change."
"I'm enjoying my football and I think the team, as you can see, is enjoying our football too. We need to keep going because there is a long way to go yet."
- Lecce washout -
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"We need someone ready to work for the team, fight hard for the 90 minutes."