We find ourselves talking about Lazio and honesty once again this season, yet this time much criticism is being heaped upon le Aquile (that's eagles to you and me) instead of refreshing praise.

Let us take a trip back in time to when candidness was the number one policy at Lazio and Miroslav Klose had just given his side a 1-0 lead at Napoli; cue celebrations. But wait, what's this? The German forward has only gone and admitted he used his hand to divert the ball into the net; cue a Fair Play award from the German FA and worldwide praise. Lazio went down 3-0.

Fast forward to this weekend and a title-chasing Lazio were heading towards a goalless draw at home to Atalanta. Lazio's Stefan Radu found himself in a crossing position with 20 minutes to go and drilled a ball across the box. Atalanta defender Davide Brivio attempted to clear the ball as he faced his own goal but saw his attempt rebound off his own crossbar and fall to Sergio Floccari. Goal Lazio. In the midst of the action however, replays showed the ball had clearly struck Floccari on the hand before his next touch put the ball into the back of the net. Intentional? Cue debate. 

Floccari has recently claimed his innocence and because of what happened previously with his team-mate Miroslav Klose, has been forced to defend his actions, even going as far as admitting he did not know if the ball had struck his hand or not. Hard to believe when the force from the rebound was so great. His muted celebrations after scoring were showered by Atalanta protests as they mugged referee Sebastiano Peruzzo. Interestingly, amongst the havoc stood a very sheepish Miroslav Klose; whether he saw it or not, he knew the added importance behind this goal compared to the one he scored back in September after just three minutes.

So did Sergio Floccari. "I was happy to give Lazio a helping hand" he told reporters.

Davide Brivio was happy to give Lazio a helping hand too before the final whistle, as his headed own-goal in the 77th minute confirmed the three points for the home side. As it turned out, three vital points in the hunt for the scudetto.

Lazio now find themselves just three points behind leaders Juventus as the Old Lady have now lost five points in two games so far in 2013. After defeat at home to Sampdoria last weekend, Juve spluttered to a 1-1 draw away to Parma on Sunday. Surprising? Considering Juve's form this season perhaps, but Parma have not lost a home game since last March and they will have been disappointed to not have taken all three points against the champions. Parma keeper Antonio Mirante kept Juve at bay in the first, with an especially good save to thwart a Pirlo costless-kick. But l'architetto found the perfect formula to beat Mirante from a dead-ball in the second to grab his eigth of the season; that being a handsome deflection off Jonathan Biabiany. Juventus' slender lead proved not enough however. In the 78th minute Nicola Sansone latched onto a through ball and drilled past Buffon to preserve Parma's admirable home record.

Sitting in third we find Napoli, who are still arguing that they should be level on points with second-placed Lazio. Instead Mazzarri's men are two points behind in third and have been fuelled even more in their pursuit for the title by Claudio Marchisio's comments about how he dislikes the whole Napoli team.

"A grave insult" say Napoli in an official statement regarding Marchisio's comments.

That might have been their response in words, but on the pitch Napoli got on with things. Goals from Christian Maggio and Lorenzo Insigne either side of a stunning strike from Gokhan Inler were enough to give them a convincing home win against 19th-placed Palermo. Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis will continue the fight against his club's point deduction as he believes the standings are falsified in their current state, yet the irony is his side are 11 points better off at this stage compared to last season.

Move a couple more points down the table and we find the fingertips of Stramaccioni's Inter clinging on to the scudetto chase. They claimed their first win since the start of December by comfortably beating Pescara 2-0 at home on Saturday, briefly moving into 3rd ahead of Napoli.

If you believe in good omens then let me tell you that Lazio's current tally of 42 points from 20 games was the exact same amount they had at the corresponding stage of their most recent title-winning season in 1999/2000. Did I mention that they were chasing down Juventus 13 years ago too..? 

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