Serie A: McTominay brace fires Napoli to top three

Scott McTominay struck twice as Napoli secured a crucial win over Torino, moving three points clear at the top of Serie A with just four matches remaining.

After Inter Milan suffered a 1-0 defeat to Roma earlier in the day, Napoli had the opportunity to strengthen their grip on the Scudetto, and they seized it in style.

McTominay, enjoying a remarkable debut season in Italy following his move from Manchester United, opened the scoring in the seventh minute.

The Scotland international was quick to react to a low cut-back from Frank Anguissa, steering the ball home from close range to give Napoli an early lead.

That sent a packed out Stadio Diego Armando Maradona into a frenzy, which only intensified when McTominay scored his 11th goal of the season four minutes before the break.

Similar to his opener, McTominay was too alert and too strong for the visiting defence to stop him getting to Matteo Politano’s clipped cross and finishing past Torino keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

The 28-year-old has scored five goals in his last three games, where he has been named player of the match in each of them.

Torino grew in stature in the second half, but Antonio Conte’s side would have scored a third, but Philip Billing’s header bounced in off the crossbar.

The only blot on Napoli’s evening were injuries to Anguissa, Stanislav Lobotka and defender Alessandro Buongiorno, the latter named in the starting XI despite missing the last two games with a thigh problem.

Napoli are top of the Serie A table with 74 points after 34 games, while Inter – who have lost their last three games in all competitions without scoring – have 71.

Should both teams finish the season tied on points then they would face each other in a one-off match – played at the home of the team with the better goal difference – to determine the champions.