Napoli beat battling Pisa to maintain perfect Serie A start

Lorenzo Lucca's first goal for his new club, thumped home in the 82nd minute, ended up being the winning goal in a narrow win for Napoli who have 12 points from four league matches.

That put Napoli two points ahead of second-placed Juventus following their great rivals' draw at Verona on Saturday, and three ahead of Roma and AC Milan who complete the top four in Italy.

Napoli head to the San Siro next weekend to take on Milan who have an Italian Cup fixture against Lecce on Tuesday night.

"Obviously we're happy for four wins out of four in a league where there are six or seven teams at a really good level," said Conte to Sky.

"We've got a lot of new players who have come here and have the Scudetto (for winning last season's title) on their shirt. And that carries pressure."

Conte has a reputation for struggling with the rhythm of playing European and domestic football and it was an underwhelming performance from Napoli in the wake of Thursday night's 2-0 defeat at Manchester City in the Champions League.

"The teams that play European football every year are settled in, we're not. That's why playing every three days can create physical and mental stress," added Conte.

"We need to have patience."

Lucca's late strike saved Antonio Conte's team from a draw which looked on the cards when M'Bala Nzola calmly levelled the scores from the penalty spot in the 60 minute.

Nzola's strike cancelled out Billy Gilmour's first ever goal in professional club football, deflected home in the 39th minute at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Leonardo Spinazzola scored his first goal since February out of nowhere in the 73rd minute with a long-range drive, and then Lucca lashed home to give Napoli the points.

Lucca's strike against his former club turned out to be the key as Lorran tapped home for Pisa in the 90th minute after Giovanni Di Lorenzo gave the ball away cheaply in his own penalty area.

That capped a poor weak for Di Lorenzo who was also sent off at City for chopping down Erling Haaland.

But Pisa, managed by Alberto Gilardino, couldn't snatch a late draw and remain second from bottom with just a single point to their name.