Roma beat Udinese 3-1 to be back on top

Roma regained their top place in the Italian Serie A standings with a 3-1 win over Udinese on Wednesday when Juventus lost 1-0 at Sassuolo.

Miralem Pjanic opened scoring for Roma just four minutes into the match before Douglas Maicon extended their lead five minutes later. Gervinho sealed the win in the second half before Cyril Thereau netted a consolation for Udinese.

Juventus had secured only its third league win of the season at the weekend, and was hoping the 2-0 victory over Atalanta would be a turning point in its season.

Things went worse when Giorgio Chiellini was sent off for a second bookable offence five minutes before halftime.

Roma now have 23 points after 10 matches, two points above Napoli, Fiorentina and Inter Milan, who had a 1-0 win at Bologna on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Gonzalo Higuain scored again as Napoli beat Palermo 2-0, while Fiorentina triumphed by the same scoreline at Hellas Verona.

Frosinone beat fellow Serie A newcomers Carpi 2-1 with both sides having a player sent off, and Genoa snatched a 3-3 draw at Torino.

Lazio was five points behind Roma, as was Sassuolo, after losing 2-1 at Atalanta as home coach Edy Reja secured his 100th top-flight victory. AC Milan beat Chievo Verona 1-0 for a second successive win. Endit