With this victory, in fact, Napoli goes two points ahead of Lazio and are only eight points shy of reaching Roma and ten away from reaching the league leaders Juventus. The match at the Stadio Olimpico was full of entertainment as both sides had equal chances in the entire match.
The first real chance of the game came Lazio's way in the first-half, after 12 minutes of play. Italian forward Antonio Candreva had a shot saved by Rafael, who dealt with the danger well to keep the scores level early on.
However, it did not take long for the visitors to take the lead, as just six minutes later, Dries Mertens fed the ball to Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain whose right-footed shot flew underneath the crossbar from a difficult angle, making the effort virtually impossible for Berisha to stop.
Lazio had another goal-scoring opportunity, this time with midfielder Lucas Biglia with a shot from 25 yards only for the ball to go wide of Rafael's goal soon after Higuain's opener. The hosts continued to pressurise for an equaliser, but to no avail. Cavanda had a shot, but Rafael was once again supreme as he held firm to deny the hosts from getting back into the match.
Higuain has been criticised for his inconsistencies in-front of goal, and it was easy to see why from his second-half display. He had many chances on goal, but Berisha dealt with relatively tame efforts from the Argentinian who could not add to his first strike with another in the end.
Lazio failed to convert and finish a combined number of 21 shots from all players, compared to Napoli's 9 as the match ended in Napoli's favour courtesy of Higuain's lone goal halfway through the first-half.
Napoli move up to 3rd place in Serie A and now face Udinese during midweek in the Coppa Italia and Genoa next weekend, while Lazio host Milan on the 24th of January.