LA SPEZIA: Ciro Immobile scored his first goal in nearly two months when he netted the opening penalty while Felipe Anderson and Marcos Antonio were also on target in Lazio’s 3-0 win at struggling Spezia in Serie A on Friday, extending the club’s unbeaten run to eight league games.

A fourth consecutive win saw Maurizio Sarri’s men tighten their grip on second spot. They are a provisional 13 points adrift of Napoli and eight points clear of third-placed local rivals AS Roma, who host Udinese on Sunday night.

Lazio have now kept a clean sheet in their last five away league games, equalling the club’s record set in 1998 under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Spezia could have shocked the visitors by taking an early lead through midfielder Mehdi Bourabia, whose close-range effort hit the bar inside the opening two minutes at the Stadio Picco.

Ten minutes later Spezia striker M’Bala Nzola had a good chance but his header bounced in front of goal and went wide.

They opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a coolly-taken spot-kick by Immobile, who sent Bartlomiej Dragowski the wrong way after a foul on Anderson by Ethan Ampadu.

Immobile, sidelined during most of March through injury, brought up his 10th league goal of the season and first since his double in the 2-0 win at Salernitana on Feb 19.

The goal was important for me because this season hasn’t been all that good,” Immobile told Sky Sport. The team did really well in my absence so I promised them that I would give everything to reach our goals with them. It’s been an unlucky season for me, once you start getting injured it can go on for what seems like forever, but I’m not giving up.”

Lazio looked determined to score again before halftime but Immobile and Anderson missed from close range and a shot from the edge of the box by Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was saved by Dragowski.

Sarri’s side, however, did double their advantage seven minutes into the second half through a low shot by Anderson after a swift-passing move also involving Luis Alberto and Immobile. The Brazilian has made 28 out of 30 starting lineups in Serie A this season but had failed to score for more than two months.

Lazio, on top for most of the game, dominated the hosts in the closing 15 minutes and another goal seemed a matter of time. Anderson’s Brazilian compatriotAntonio wrap­ped up the points in the 89th with his first goal for Lazio less than 10 minutes after coming on. The 22-year-old showed speed and control as he beat two defenders and the keeper before netting with a low strike.

This team has acquired the ability to suffer in difficult moments of the game,” Sarri told DAZN. Last year [they learnt] to suffer in those five to 10 minutes, then come back and play. It’s a sign of maturity, which is no small thing.

We were in pretty bad shape, but I used to tell the guys that it was difficult but not impossible. Now I tell them it won’t be as easy as one might think from (the outside). We have to fight, go game-by-game.”

Spezia finished with 10 men after defender Ampadu got a second yellow for fouling winger Mattia Zaccagni six minutes from time. They are in 17th place on 26 points and remain four points above the relegation zone.

Defeat for Spezia also allowed Cremonese to keep dreaming of a great escape after Cyriel Dessers gave the promoted outfit just their third win of the season, 1-0 over Empoli.

Cremonese are 19th, seven points behind Spezia who travel to rock-bottom Sampdoria next weekend.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2023