Lazio bounced back from Rome derby defeat with a 2-1 win over Sassuolo on Saturday which got their push for European football back on track.
Goals in each half from Manuel Lazzari and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic were enough to take Maurizio Sarri's side up to fifth, a point ahead of Atalanta and Roma, who hammered their capital city rivals 3-0 before the international break.
However they are some way off the Champions League places as they trail Juventus, who sit fourth ahead of Sunday's big match with champions Inter Milan, by seven points.
"We showed from the first minute that this was not the same team we saw in the derby," Milinkovic-Savic told DAZN.
"We want to finish in the top four, I know it will be difficult but we're going to try."
That defeat, and possibly the large hail stones which thumped down in Rome, led to a small crowd of less than 20,000 showing up for the first match at the Stadio Olimpico since grounds were allowed to fully open to the public for the first time in two years.
