Napoli miss out on return to Serie A summit after Fiorentina draw

Napoli have missed out on the chance to return to the top of Serie A after being held to a goalless draw by Fiorentina at the Stadio San Paolo.

The Partenopei were hoping to seize on the opportunity presented to them by Saturday's draw between Juventus and Inter Milan to leapfrog the Nerazzurri back to the summit of the Italian top flight.

However, the hosts were without Lorenzo Insigne, Arkadiusz Milik and Faouzi Ghoulam, and were unable to make their chances count against the Viola.

Maurizio Sarri's charges were quick out of the starting blocks as Jorginho fired over from Dries Mertens's cutback and dominated their opponents in the early stages.

Fiorentina eventually grew into the game after withstanding the opening salvo, with Marco Benassi firing an effort goalwards which Pepe Reina smothered.

Giovanni Simeone then had a great opportunity to open the scoring when going clear on goal from a Cyril Thereau through-ball, but fired straight at the Napoli stopper from a tight angle.

In the second half, Allan released Piotr Zielinski with an incisive pass down the left flank, but the Poland striker blasted over the bar.

Napoli continued to send men forward, with Marek Hamsik striking the upright from the edge of the box and Dries Mertens missing a sitter from an excellent scoring position.

Algeria attacking midfielder Adam Ounas came off the bench for Napoli but he also failed to give his side that necessary extra cutting edge as the points ended up shared in Campania.

Napoli (4-3-3): Reina; Hysaj, Albiol, Koulibaly, Rui; Allan (Rog 76'), Jorginho (Diawara 82'), Hamsik; Callejon, Mertens, Zielinski (Ounas 74')

Fiorentina (3-3-3-1): Sportiello; Laurini (Gaspar 79'), Astori, Pezzella; Biraghi, Badelj, Veretout; Simeone, Benassi, Chiesa (Gil Dias 74'); Thereau (Sanchez 64')