Lazio have 25 points from nine Serie A matches, a club-record start that puts them level with Inter Milan at the top of the table. The latest instalment came at the Mapei Stadium on Tuesday, where a 6-2 demolition of ten-man Sassuolo extended a run that already includes a 3-0 away win at Juventus earlier this month.
Kenneth Taylor opened the scoring inside two minutes and Kristian Thorstvedt levelled for the hosts shortly after. Gustav Isaksen and Romano Floriani Mussolini then struck in the 13th and 16th minutes to put Lazio 3-1 up before Thorstvedt was sent off on 32 minutes for a dangerous tackle on captain Mattia Zaccagni. Sebastiano Esposito pulled one back for Sassuolo just before the break, but Zaccagni restored the three-goal lead in first-half stoppage time and a Tijjani Noslin double after the interval wrapped up the scoring. Two saved penalties by Stefano Turati, from Zaccagni and Davide Frattesi, barely dented the margin.
Gattuso plays down the title talk
Gennaro Gattuso, who took over at Lazio in June after leaving the Italy national team, has spent recent weeks trying to pull expectations back rather than feed them. After a 2-1 home win over Parma on 24 October lifted the side to the top of the table, he told reporters his players should not get carried away.
“We frankly don’t really belong up there, it’s not something that touches us,” Gattuso said after the Parma match.
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The context behind that caution is a club still absorbing a difficult 2025-26 season. Lazio finished ninth, lost the Coppa Italia final to Inter and operated under a frozen transfer market. The decision to hand the squad to Gattuso has, so far, produced what Il Messaggero has described as the best league start in the club’s history, according to Football Italia.
Spalletti under pressure, Napoli languishing in seventh
The chaos around Lazio makes their numbers stand out more sharply. On Wednesday, Juventus lost 2-0 at Genoa at the Marassi, a third league defeat in nine matches. Kingsley Ehizibue scored inside 12 minutes and Tommaso Baldanzi doubled the lead before the half-hour.
Luciano Spalletti’s position is now hanging by a thread, ten days after Lazio themselves had put three past his side in Turin. Juventus have slipped down the table with an injury list that remains close to double figures.
Napoli, who were widely tipped before the season to retain the Scudetto, have won only two of their last five Serie A matches. A 3-3 draw at Roma on 24 October followed a loss at Venezia and sits alongside a Champions League night in which they conceded three to Villarreal.
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They sit seventh, outside the top six and well adrift of the leaders.
Lazio’s nine-match unbeaten start is set to meet its next test on Sunday, when Gattuso’s side are back in Serie A action at Cagliari.
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