Kevin de Bruyne injured himself hitting his fourth Serie A goal but Napoli went on to beat visiting Inter Milan 3-1 on Saturday, halting their slide and moving to the top of Serie A.

AC Milan left the leadership door ajar when they drew with Pisa on Friday night to move onto 17 points. Napoli are now one point clear at the top after a timely win at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Napoli had been struggling, losing two of their last three Serie A games, including a defeat at AC Milan, before suffering a 6-2 humiliation at PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.

They responded in front of their home crowd.

"It was a fantastic evening. We played like a top team, we knew we had to put in a great performance and we did it," said Napoli's Scott McTominay. "There was a great reaction after the bad night in the Champions League."

Napoli won a penalty after 33 minutes when Henrikh Mkhitaryan brought down Napoli right back Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

Mkhitaryan injured himself making the challenge and went off before De Bruyne stepped up to convert the penalty.

It was the Belgian's fourth league goal of his first Italian season since moving from Manchester City. He had already scored twice from the penalty spot and once with a free kick.

But the 34-year-old clutched a hamstring after scoring and was helped off the field before play resumed.

"We're going through a tough spell with lots of injuries – Kevin picked up one today too – but we responded with great character," said Napoli coach Antonio Conte.

Inter president Giuseppe Marotta was unhappy that the penalty was awarded by a video review after the referee had initially not whistled for a foul.

"The unjustified penalty, as shown by the footage, completely changed the dynamic of the match," he said, but added "Napoli could have won anyway, of course."

McTominay doubled the home lead when he smashed the ball home from the edge of the box after 54 minutes.

Hakan Calhanoglu hit back from the spot five minutes later after Alessandro Buongiorno blocked a Lautaro Martinez strike with an arm.

Andre-Frank Anguissa drove home a third for Napoli after 67 minutes to finish the scoring.

"Inter were coming off a string of good results, while we were struggling," said Conte.

"Inter came here to destroy us," said Conte. "We have no desire and no intention of stopping fighting.

"Despite everything, we played an excellent game and the win was legitimate and deserved."

Inter are fourth behind Roma who visit Sassuolo on Sunday and could draw level with Napoli.