Serie A Round 14 Power Rankings: Napoli Storms to the Top, Milan and Juventus Win Big

The 14th round of the Serie A season ended in incredible fashion, with Napoli holding off a late assault from Inter to move into first place in the league.

That was one of several fantastic results during the latest weekend of Italian football action. Milan recovered from the loss to Juventus in a big way, torching Sampdoria to the tune of a 4-1 win. Meanwhile, Juventus keeps cruising after a 3-0 win over Palermo.

Normally, it is easy to pick one player as the player of the round in Serie A, but M'Baye Niang and Gonzalo Higuain both scored twice and put on incredible displays in wins for Milan and Napoli, respectively.

Serie A Power Rankings, Round 14

	Club	Round 11	Round 12	Thoughts
1st	Napoli (Round 13: 2nd)	Defeated Inter, 2-1	at Bologna, Sunday, Dec. 6	Napoli fans probably felt their hearts stop several times in the final minute, but their side held on. Inter nearly hit the back of the net twice in the last minute, but hit the post or Pepe Reina's hand, instead. Gonzalo Higuain continues his march toward the capocannoniere, and Napoli is now in pole position for the Scudetto.
2nd	Inter Milan (1)	Lost to Napoli, 2-1	vs. Genoa, Saturday, Dec. 5	Stevan Jovetic hit the post, then Miranda's header was parried at the last by Pepe Reina. Inter could not complete the comeback on Napoli after a tough fight in the second half. Napoli leads Inter by one point. Inter is ahead of Fiorentina by one point. Roma is two back of Fiorentina. The race at the top will be fantastic.
3rd	Juventus (5)	Defeated Palermo, 3-0	at Lazio, Friday, Dec. 4	The fire keeps burning, and Juventus is starting to close the gap on the table toppers. Seven points separate Juventus and Napoli.
4th	Fiorentina (3)	Drew 1-1 at Sassuolo	vs. Udinese, Sunday, Dec. 6	Borja Valero's early goal got Fiorentina out and running quickly at Sassuolo, but Sergio Floccari's equalizer three minutes from halftime helped the hosts split the spoils. The point briefly put Fiorentina in second, before Napoli went ahead and beat Inter.
5th	AC Milan (6)	Defeated Sampdoria 4-1	at Carpi, Sunday, Dec. 6	Milan has a positive goal differential! After its best offensive output of the season, Milan now has a plus-1 goal difference. The Rossoneri may be seventh in the table, but they have a schedule that favors maximum point output. Also, M'Baye Niang, anyone? The French youngster had his biggest performance of his Milan career against Sinisa Mihajlovic's old side.
6th	AS Roma (4)	Lost to Atalanta, 2-0	at Torino, Saturday, Dec. 5	Roma had 59 percent of the possession and took 17 total shots, but Atlanta took advantage of its limited chances. This is a brutal result for the Romans.
7th	Torino (7)	Defeated Bologna, 2-0	vs. Roma, Saturday, Dec. 5	It was tempting to move Torino down one spot after Sassuolo fought back for a result against Fiorentina. Had Sassuolo won, it probably would have happened. Nothing against Torino after a win, though the Turin side did leave it late.
8th	Sassuolo (8)	Drew 1-1 vs. Fiorentina	at Sampdoria, Sunday, Dec. 6	Sergio Floccari saved a point for Sassuolo Monday after Borja Valero's quick strike. Sassuolo will need to take advantage of Sampdoria, which is coming off a beating at the hands of Milan.
9th	Empoli (11)	Defeated Lazio, 1-0	vs. Verona, Sunday, Dec. 6	Welcome to the top 10, Empoli! Traditionally in the lower half, Empoli finds its way into the top 10 by way of a narrow victory over Lazio. Lorenzo Tonelli provided all the scoring Empoli would need. In the table that matters, Marco Giampaolo's side still has work to do, as it currently sits in 12th.
10th	Lazio (9)	Lost to Empoli, 1-0	vs. Juventus, Friday, Dec. 4	Lazio would have really benefitted from a victory over the weekend. Juventus is on fire heading into Friday's matchup in Rome. Lazio could be in trouble.
11th	Atalanta (15)	Defeated Roma, 2-0	vs. Palermo, Sunday, Dec. 6	Finally, a result from Atalanta worthy of seeing them climb the rankings. La Dea went out and took its chances well against Roma, despite being pushed back on their heels a bit.
12th	Chievo Verona (10)	Lost to Udinese, 3-2	at Frosinone, Sunday, Dec. 6	It must be brutal to have one of your best former players come back and ruin your day by scoring twice to propel his new team to a 3-2 win. That's exactly what Cyril Thereau did to Chievo Sunday. His 80th-minute strike put Udinese over the top. Chievo is next up to test its might against Frosinone.
13th	Udinese (15)	Defeated Chievo, 3-2	at Fiorentina, Sunday, Dec. 6	Cyril Thereau's two goals and a Chievo own goal gave Udinese three points during its visit to fair Verona. Don't expect Udinese to string together a third win in a row. Fiorentina is on the docket now.
14th	Genoa (13)	Lost to Carpi, 2-1	at Inter, Saturday, Dec. 5	Genoa is only three points off the drop zone after a loss no team can afford. Inter is up next. How unfortunate for Genoa.
15th	Sampdoria (12)	Lost to Milan, 4-1	vs. Sassuolo, Sunday, Dec. 6	The only good news for Sampdoria was Eder was able to draw level with Gonzalo Higuain at the top of the scoring race, if only for a couple days. Sampdoria was completely decimated by Milan.
16th	Bologna (16)	Lost to Torino, 2-0	vs. Napoli, Sunday, Dec. 6	Bologna kept Torino off the board for five-sixths of the game, then the hosts got going.
17th	Frosinone (18)	Defeated Verona, 3-2	vs. Chievo, Sunday, Dec. 6	Win No. 4 for Frosinone!
18th	Palermo (17)	Lost to Juventus, 3-0	at Atalanta, Sunday, Dec. 6	Palermo is the latest of Juventus' unfortunate victims. Next Sunday could be a tough test, as well.
19th	Carpi (20)	Defeated Genoa, 2-1	vs. Milan, Sunday, Dec. 6	Everyone celebrate, Carpi is off the bottom! The Serie B champions enjoyed a nice victory over Genoa at the weekend, but can they contain Milan?
20th	Hellas Verona (19)	Lost to Frosinone, 3-2	vs. Empoli, Sunday, Dec. 6	Three months into the season, and Verona still does not have a win. Fourteen matches in, it is safe to say Verona is in a heap of trouble.