Inter Milan beat Spezia on their turf to make it three successive wins in a row, keeping them firmly in contention for another Scudetto.
Goals from Inter’s big guns in Marcelo Brozovic, Lautaro Martinez, and Alexis Sanchez gave them a 3-1 win on the night putting them briefly ahead of Milan at the top of Serie A table.
League leaders AC Milan beat Genoa later in the day to reclaim their spot atop the Serie A standings.
After a cagey start, Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic swept the ball home, on the end of Danilo D’Ambrosio’s knock down, in the 31st minute to break the deadlock.
Following a couple of early scares in Liguria, Brozovic picked the perfect moment to score his first Serie A goal of the season to edge Inter into the lead.
Inter Milan dominated the second half, and should have added a second through Ivan Perisic and Denzel Dumfries but chances came and went as Inter looked for the crucial second goal.
Argentina’s striker Lautaro Martinez nudged one into the net in the 73rd minute to put his side in command after getting the faintest of touches to a Perisic cross
A fine late goal from Spezia captain Giulio Maggiore ensured a tense final few minutes for the title chasers.
Maggiore’s strike two minutes from time briefly arrowed into the net to lift the home crowd.
But Alexis Sanchez finished off a swift counter in the stoppage time to seal the three points for the visitors.
The hard-fought success moved Inter onto 69 points from 32 matches, but Milan’s win over Genoa at San Siro kept them two points ahead of their city rivals.
Spezia stay 15th on 33 points.
One win in seven Serie A matches before their trip to fellow title hopefuls Juventus two weeks ago had seen Inter fall behind in the race for the Scudetto.
However, after grinding out a 1-0 victory in Turin, Inzaghi’s side have not looked back and are firmly in control of their own destiny.
