Does anyone want to win the Serie A title this season? Loaded as the question may be, it feels relevant after a weekend when Napoli and Inter Milan again wasted a glorious chance to put down a marker in the race for the Scudetto.

Antonio Conte must be sick of the sight of the Stadio Olimpico after his team gave away a late equaliser for the second time in two weeks on their visit to the Eternal City, conceding with 87 minutes on the clock against Lazio on Saturday night after allowing Roma to snatch a last-minute draw earlier this month.

As it turned out, the draw allowed the Partenopei to open a two-point gap over Inter, who lost the Derby d’Italia on Sunday night, and remain five clear of third-placed Atalanta, who squandered a glorious chance to drag themselves back in the thick of the title race as they were held to a stalemate draw by Cagliari at home.

The relentless pace Napoli and Inter set for the first five months this season felt unsustainable and so it has proved. The Azzurri‘s draw against Lazio was their third in a row, while the reigning Serie A champions have lost twice in their last three outings after just one defeats in the opening 22 rounds.

Like golfers who blitz the course over the first 63 holes of a major, only to start carding bogeys on the back nine on the Sunday, Napoli and Inter no longer look as ruthlessly efficient as they had until three weeks ago.

Of the two, it is arguably the Nerazzurri who have the gravest causes for concern. There can never be any positives to be found in losing to Juventus, but the manner of the defeat will worry Simone Inzaghi more than the result itself.

Alarmingly profligate in front of goal in the first half, the Beneamata never got going after the break. After Francisco Conceicao’s winner arrived 15 minutes from time, the reigning Serie A champions never looked capable of rescuing a point, as they had done two weeks ago when Stefan de Vriji’s 93rd minute equaliser salvaged a draw in the Derby della Madonnina.

Inter have now lost to both Juventus and AC Milan in Serie A this season, drawing the other fixtures against their biggest rivals. In their history, the Nerazzurri have never won the Scudetto without winning at least one head-to-head fixture against either the Bianconeri or the Rossoneri.

The malaise isn’t limited to their historic rivals either. Out of the top seven sides in Serie A, Inter have already drawn with Napoli and lost to Fiorentina earlier this month, a defeat they admittedly avenged three days later.

Atalanta and Lazio have been dispatched by an aggregate score of 10-0, but the Nerazzurri still have to face both of them before the end of the season.

With a potential title decider in Naples on March 2, Inzaghi himself admitted Inter’s form against their direct rivals could decide the destination of the Scudetto.

“We need to stop making empty promises and start working harder,” he said.

“It’s clear that what we’re doing isn’t enough. Tonight’s defeat was different from the one in Florence, but we need to step up our game, especially in the big matches.”

Inter’s struggles against their direct rivals are embodied by their captain. Lautaro Martinez has scored nine goals in 23 appearances in Serie A this season, but has failed to find the net against Juventus, Milan, Atalanta, Lazio and Napoli so far.

The January purple patch that delivered eight goals in eight games in all competitions is a distant memory for the 27-year-old, who hasn’t scored since a hat-trick against Monaco on January 29.

Martinez squandered two gilt-edged chances at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday night, blasting over from close range in the first half after some superb work from Denzel Dumfries and then failing to connect with Nicola Zalewski’s cross in the second half.

Worryingly for Inzaghi, Inter remain too reliant on Martinez and Marcus Thuram, who spent the first hour of the defeat against Juventus on the bench because of an ankle knock and came on for the final 30 minutes in place of the ineffective Mehdi Taremi.

Inter have scored a league-best 58 goals in Serie A so far this season, with Martinez and Thuram combining for 23 of them.

Beyond them, however, Inter’s attacking options have seldom made an impact with Taremi and Marko Arnautovic scoring just once each in Serie A this term – the Austrian’s goal, admittedly, was the winner against Fiorentina last week. Asked about his side’s profligacy in front of goal, Inzaghi didn’t mince his words.

“We should have been more clinical in front of goal,” he said. “In my nine years coming to Turin as a manager, I can’t recall a game where we created so many chances and didn’t capitalise on them.

“This is a tough loss to swallow, but it’s a wake-up call. We need to improve our performance going forward.”

Inter will have to heed his advice over the next three months.