Napoli edge Milan to stay on heels of Serie A leaders Inter

Antonio Conte's side were ahead with a minute on the clock through Matteo Politano's thumping low finish, and once Romelu Lukaku scuffed in his 400th career goal in the 19th minute the hosts had a big enough cushion to claim the three points.

Sunday's win was huge for Napoli as next week's fixture at fourth-placed Bologna is the only one of their final eight league matches to be against a team in the top half of the division.

And unlike Inter, who squeezed past Udinese 2-1 earlier on Sunday, Napoli have no European or Italian Cup commitments and can focus exclusively on trying to win their second league crown in three seasons.

"We can only to take it one game at a time," said Politano told DAZN. "We believe in ourselves, we have to try to make our fantastic fans happy and then we'll see where we are at the end of the season."

Milan, who lost Ruben Loftus-Cheek to acute appendicitis, were dismal in the first half but the introduction of Rafael Leao and Santiago Gimenez after the break helped shake Sergio Conceicao's team from their stupor.

Gimenez could have cut the gap from the penalty spot in the 69th minute but Alex Meret saved his low effort, following a foul on Theo Hernandez by Philip Billing.

Another substitute in Luka Jovic pushed home Hernandez's low cross with six minutes to go, but Milan stay ninth and nine points away from the Champions League positions after leaving it too late to mount a comeback.

Milan now face Inter in the first leg of their Italian Cup semi-final on Wednesday before Fiorentina visit the San Siro next weekend, with their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.

"We were too slow to get into the game, the first pass they sent forward led to their first goal," said Conceicao to DAZN.

"It wasn't the opening 20 minutes we prepared... we fixed some things in the second half and created lots of chances. I think a draw would have been a fair result."