High-flying Udinese lost 3-1 to Napoli, while Palermo returned to winning ways by seeing off Livorno 1-0 in Saturday's Serie A action.

Napoli took the lead against Udinese through a Cristian Zapata own goal in the third minute, only for Simone Pepe to equalise five minutes later.

However, Napoli were then reduced to 10 men when Paolo Cannavaro was sent off after 36 minutes, but Udinese could not make the most of their numerical advantage as they had a player of their own red carded in the 59th minute.

Pepe was the man to go and Udinese could not recover as Ezequiel Lavezzi netted twice in quick succession (74 and 75) to seal victory for Napoli.

Palermo returned to winning ways by seeing off Livorno 1-0.

Both goalkeepers Alberto Fontana and Marco Amelia were in stunning form, stopping nearly everything that came at them.

Livorno even missed a penalty before Fabrizio Miccoli found the back of the net in the 76th minute to earn the Sicilians all three points and get them off to a good start in February after a torrid January.

Francesco Guidolin's side had lost all three games since the turn of the year, but their first win in 2008 puts them back in the race for a place in Europe.

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