Dries Mertens double at Roma secures win for Napoli to keep rivals in sight

Dries Mertens scored twice as third-placed Napoli beat Roma 2-1 away on Saturday and moved to within two points of them in the Serie A table.

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Mertens was set up for the opening goal by Marek Hamsik’s clever through ball but still needed to beat the offside trap and two defenders before chipping adroitly over Roma’s goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the 25th minute.

The Belgian international added a second five minutes into the second half, touching in a cross from the left by Lorenzo Insigne.

But Napoli had to survive an anxious final five minutes after Kevin Strootman pulled a goal back in the 89th minute and Mohamed Salah, who had hit an upright, and Diego Perotti came close to a stoppage-time equaliser with Napoli’s Pepe Reina pulling off a dramatic save to ensure the points.

Napoli are now back in contention for an automatic Champions League berth next season as they moved on to 57 points. Second-placed Roma have 59, seven behind the leaders, Juventus, who play at Udinese on Sunday.