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Roma close gap on Juventus; Napoli keep slim Serie A hopes alive

Roma closed the gap to Serie A leaders Juventus to a point after a thrilling 5-3 win at Chievo.

Luciano Spalletti's side are second but Juventus will win the league if they beat relegation-threatened Crotone on Sunday.

Roma survived a scare though as they twice fell behind in the first half.

A Chievo victory would have handed the title to Juventus and Lucas Castro made made it 1-0 when he converted from close range, but Stephan El Shaarawy levelled from the edge of the box after 28 minutes.

Roberto Inglese restored Chievo's lead when he headed past Wojciech Szczesny eight minutes before the break.

But Mohamed Salah equalised again to make it 2-2 at the break before El Shaarawy put Roma ahead for the first time after 58 minutes.

Salah fired into the bottom corner for 4-2 and Edin Dzeko scored his 28th league goal of the season with seven minutes left when he drilled in from outside the box to put Roma in control.

Inglese then scored with three minutes left to pull a goal back for Chievo, who are set to finish in mid-table.

Napoli still have an outside chance of claiming the Serie A title, however slim, after a 4-1 win over Fiorentina.

They are two points behind Juve following victory -- thanks to two goals from Dries Mertens and strikes from Kalidou Koulibaly and Lorenzo Insigne -- and one adrift of Roma with avoidance of the Champions League playoff round at stake.

But defeat dented Fiorentina's Europa League hopes as they failed to make up ground on AC Milan and sit seventh having played a game more.

Koulibaly opened the scoring after eight minutes, bundling in from close range, and Napoli almost doubled their lead when Mertens hit the post after 26 minutes.

They did make it 2-0 nine minutes before the break when Insigne converted Mertens' pass and Mertens scored himself 12 minutes after the re-start, stabbing in after Ciprian Tatarusanu fumbled Insigne's effort.

Josip Ilicic did pull a goal back for the visitors but Mertens wrapped up victory with a fourth when he embarrassed Gonzalo Rodriguez and tapped in after Insigne's shot was saved.