Lazio ensured that they would stay in Serie A's top four on Sunday after comfortably beating Spezia 4-0 at the Olympic Stadium in the north of Rome city center, in their clash within the eighth round of the Italian League. First-half goals from Mattia Zaccagni and boyhood Lazio fan Alessio Romagnoli and a brace from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic at the Stadio Olimpico put the hosts three points behind league leaders Napoli in third. Maurizio Sarri's team is level on 17 points with AC Milan and second-placed Atalanta after making short work of Spezia, who are four points above the relegation zone, and claiming their third straight league win. However, Lazio will drop back down to fourth should Atalanta not lose to Fiorentina later on Sunday and Udinese win at Verona on Monday night. Lazio's dominance over their opponents was evident from kick-off, and they would have been ahead in the second minute had Ciro Immobile not blasted over a penalty he won just 39 seconds into the match.
Ethan Ampadu now has the unwanted honor of giving away the earliest penalty in Serie A history as it was the Wales international who chopped down Immobile, back in action after missing international duty with Italy. The hosts were soon in the lead however thanks to Zaccagni, who started and finished the move which ended with him tapping home in the 12th minute after exchanging passes with Felipe Anderson. 12 minutes later Romagnoli was kissing the Lazio badge under the Olimpico's Curva Nord after flashing home a brilliantly taken volley, his first goal for the Roman team since signing from Milan in the summer.
Milinkovic-Savic hit the bar with a header eight minutes before half-time but the Serbia midfielder had his second league goal of the season just after the hour mark. The 27-year-old then dinked in a delightful fourth in stoppage time which gave the match a score line that reflected the balance of play. Lazio raised its score to 17 points in third place in the Italian league table, which is led by Napoli with 20 points, while Spezia's balance stopped at 8 points in 12th place.