Four points seperates first from 13th as goal shy round ends in Lazio derby win

After a goal fest of action on Saturday in Serie A with Milan rolling over Palermo and Napoli and Inter both suffering surprise defeats the action did not continue on Saturday afternoon as the net was only rippled twice across six matches in Serie A. Both those goals came in the same game as Bologna won 2-0 away at Novara to move themselves up to four points in the standings and ease the pressure on them at the bottom of the table. However, as far as goals go that was all she wrote. That being said their was no shortage of controversy especially in the early kick of in Cesena as Adrian Mutu saw red for petulance that frankly blighted Cesena going on the collect the three points they looked set to get given their strong second half performance. Their slow start continued however as they picked up just their second point in six outings.

With so many draws taking place three points would have catapulted any side high up the table but not even regular Sunday afternoon goal scorer Antonio Di Natale could ripple the net as Udinese drew 0-0 away at Atalanta in perhaps what should have been the best game of the afternoon given both sides strong starts to the season. 

So, the goals were saved for the Rome derby and the game did not disappoint. Both sides had made major acquisitions in the off season with Lazio adding Miroslav Klose, Cisse and former Italian International goalkeeper Federico Marchetti while Roma had added the likes of Dutch International keeper Martaan Stekelenburg, Gabriele Heinze, Simon Kjaer, Bojan Krkic and Pablo Osvaldo to name a few. The away side started strong as well and went in front after seven minutes through Osvaldo. Lazio came back into the match late in the first half and started where they left off after the break scoring from the spot through Hernanes. The worst part from Roma however was the dismissal of Kjaer and that left them really up against it for the rest of the half. Cue lots of pressure from Lazio who rattled the woodwork twice through Cisse and Klose before the tall German finally found the winner deep into injury time much to the elation of the home support at the Stadio Olimpico. Having lost the five previous derby's the winner in injury time was of great relieve to the Laziale's the world over and they now see their team move up to third in the table.

Lazio, Milan, Inter, Udinese and Napoli now head into Europe where tough tests await in the shape of Zurich, Bate, Lille, Athletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.