Serie A Top Five, Round 13: Smalldini Roma's star
Chris Smalling, or Smalldini, continues to be a revelation for Roma since his loan move from Manchester United and against Brescia he opened the scoring with a deflected header, before nodding into the path of Mancini to pick up a rare assist. Smalling also completed 49 of his 51 passes, won six aerial duels and made five interceptions. Not many would have seen this resurgence in form coming.
Juventus were in real trouble against Atalanta until their attacking talent stepped up for them, in particular Gonzalo Higuain. His equaliser was somewhat fortunate, his quick turn and shot deflected into the net, but the Higuain of old netted next, drifting into the box to slide home. His superb sweeping pass to Paulo Dybala sealed a win that after an hour of the contest looked extremely unlikely.
Vecino's booming header sent Lautaro Martinez through to open the scoring and from there the midfielder dominated proceedings for impressive Inter. Vecino was in destructive mode, giving Torino nothing to work with, winning six tackles, eight recoveries and two interceptions. With Nicolo Barella's unfortunate injury the Uruguayan may get more minutes in the weeks to come.
Dzemaili scored one of the goals of the round to earn Bologna a point against Parma, blasting into the roof of the net in injury time, but his overall performance was excellent, completing 49 of his 53 passes, winning all three of his tackles and making 10 recoveries.
Brozovic has been a key component of Antonio Conte's Inter side and was once again excellent in Torino. His superb deep cross allowed Stefan de Vrij to convert the clinching goal and made a round-high 11 recoveries as Inter produced another dominant midfield display.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Dejan Kulusevski's (8.1) fine form continued, contributing an excellent goal in Parma's 2-2 draw with Bologna.
ROUND TO FORGET
Mato Jajalo (5.0) and his foolish red card let to his team's defeat away to Sampdoria.