Cremonese 0-2 Napoli: Højlund's brace helps visitors keep pace in title race

After a sleepy start to the match, the visitors took the lead in the 13th minute when a blocked Leonardo Spinazzola effort fell right into the path of Højlund, who netted from just inside the six-yard box for his fifth Serie A goal of the season.

Match Report

The visitors moved up to second, one point behind leaders AC Milan, and put the pressure back on Inter, who play later on Sunday.

Napoli sprang to life in the 13th minute to grab an early lead. Cremonese failed to clear their lines from Matteo Politano's cross, and Hojlund was on hand to turn in from close range.

Straight down the other end, Matteo Bianchetti almost got an instant reply but fired his half-volley just over the crossbar in Cremonese's best chance.

Hojlund spurned a chance for another goal shortly after, failing to control Vanja Milinkovic-Savic's long clearance while one-on-one with Emil Audero.

However, he made up for that just before the break as he met Scott McTominay's flick-on with a composed finish from the edge of the six-yard box.

A hat-trick chance went begging for the Dane early in the second half as he picked out the side-netting after holding off Federico Baschirotto.

McTominay also forced a fine save out of Audero late in the second half, but the three points were already safe as Cremonese failed to put up a fight.

Data Debrief: Hojlund on the up

Hojlund's brace means that he has scored six goals in 12 appearances so far in Serie A, already two more than he netted last season for Manchester United in the Premier League (four goals in 32 games).

He will feel he could have had more, though, as he had a game-high five shots, three of which were on target, and contributed 1.33 expected goals (xG) to Napoli's total of 2.59.

The 22-year-old also had nine touches in the opposition box and created three chances for his team-mates, with only Noa Lang matching that.

But Antono Conte's team were also strong at the other end, keeping a third consecutive clean sheet in all competitions, while limiting Cremonese to 0.51 xG.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

13' GOAL! Cremonese 0-1 Napoli (Rasmus Højlund)

34' Highlight from Cremonese vs Napoli

45' GOAL! Cremonese 0-2 Napoli (Rasmus Højlund)

63' Highlight from Cremonese vs Napoli

73' Match Event for Cremonese vs Napoli

Line-ups

Cremonese XI: Vardy, Bianchetti, A.Grassi, Sanabria, Emil Audero, Federico Baschirotto, Pezzella, Alessio Zerbin, Martín Payero, Tommaso Barbieri, Terracciano

Subs: Vazquez, Silvestri, Valoti, Bonazzoli, Jari Vandeputte, Dennis Johnsen, Jeremy Sarmiento, Faris Moumbagna, Mikayil Faye, Warren Bondo, Romano Floriani Mussolini, Lapo Nava, Francesco Folino, Dachi Lordkipanidze

Napoli XI: Juan, Spinazzola, Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, Politano, Rrahmani, Vanja Milinković-Savić, Elmas, Neres, McTominay, Højlund

Subs: Nikita Contini, Pasquale Mazzocchi, Buongiorno, Lang, Miguel Gutiérrez, Lorenzo Lucca, Giuseppe Ambrosino, Antonio Vergara, Luca Marianucci, Mathias Ferrante