Sampdoria, Genoa held; Chievo claim controversial derby victory
Sampdoria missed a chance to move into third ahead of the Christmas break after they were forced to rescue a 2-2 draw at home to 10-man Udinese.
The Genoa club would have leapfrogged Napoli with victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris but, despite the fact Pedro Obiang gave them an early lead, goals from Alex Geijo and Danilo gave Udinese the upper hand.
Manolo Gabbiadini would peg the ninth-placed team back with a goal on the hour mark yet they could not quite take advantage of Thomas Heurteaux's dismissal and had to settle for a single point.
Empoli held Fiorentina to a 1-1 draw in Florence in Sunday's battle of Tuscan teams to extend their unbeaten run to five games.
Peruvian midfielder Juan Manuel Vargas scored his first goal of the season to put Fiorentina ahead in the 44th minute.
The Viola were unlucky not to double their lead two minutes after the restart when Mario Gomez's header struck the post with Empoli goalkeeper Luigi Sepe already beaten.
Lorenzo Tonelli headed in Empoli's equaliser in the 57th minute and the visitors then soaked up the pressure and frustrated the hosts to earn a valuable point.
Kamil Glik scored twice in the second half as Torino came from behind to beat Genoa 2-1 for their first Serie A victory in nearly two months.
Iago Falque gave Genoa a 1-0 half-time lead but Glik equalised seven minutes after the restart.
The Polish defender then headed home the winner in the 63rd minute to condemn Genoa to their first defeat on the road this season.
Atalanta fought back from a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-3 draw against Palermo in Bergamo.
Luca Rigoni put Palermo ahead in the sixth minute and Franco Vazquez doubled the advantage shortly after.
German Denis earned and converted a penalty to reduce the arrears in the 40th minute before Vazquez scored his second of the day to give Palermo a 3-1 lead at half-time.
However, second-half goals from Maximiliano Moralez and Denis earned the home side a deserved point.
Alberto Paloschi scored the only goal of the game to hand Chievo a 1-0 win at Hellas Verona in Sunday's city derby.
The striker headed home Ervin Zukanovic's cross nine minutes from time as Chievo won for the fourth time this season.
AC Milan did their former coach Massimiliano Allegri a favour by holding Roma to a 0-0 draw with 10 men at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday evening.
The result means Allegri's Juventus take a three-point lead over Roma into 2015 with the Giallorossi unable to break down Milan, who lost Pablo Armero to a red card in the 70th minute.
For their part, Milan missed the opportunity to move up to third in the table and will instead start the new year behind at least six other clubs in the Serie A standings.
There was a draw in the day's other game too as Cesena emerged from the fog of Reggio Emilia with a last-gasp equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw with Sassuolo.
Simone Zaza put Sassuolo ahead with a controversial late penalty which was seen by only one half of the stadium as the fog thickened in Emilia-Romagna, but it was the other half of the stadium which witnessed Ze Eduardo's first ever goal in Serie A with practically the last touch of the game.
It denied Eusebio Di Francesco's men a fifth win of the season and first since November 29, but still leaves Cesena without a win since the opening day of the season and stuck inside the bottom three.
