Napoli's Osimhen tops Serie A scoring charts, Choupo-Moting streak continues

Victor Osimhen struck a sumptuous career-first hat-trick as Napoli dispatched Sassuolo 4-0 this weekend, fuelling the Partenopei's title bid while firing himself to the top of the Serie A goalscoring charts.

Elsewhere, World Cup-bound duo Sadio Mane and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were both inspired as Bayern Munich trounced Mainz 6-2, with the latter finding the best form of his career as the World Cup approaches.

In the Premier League, Mohamed Salah and Thomas Partey were both among the goals, although only one of the pair will be happy with their weekend's work.

This weekend, however, truly belonged to Osimhen, who further maintained his excellent start to the season with a one-man masterclass against Sassuolo.

The victory was Napoli's 13th consecutive win in all competitions and takes them up to 32 points after 12 matches, five ahead of second-placed Atalanta. Osimhen was the star performer, opening the scoring in the fourth minute when he touched home at the back post.

A quarter of an hour later, the Nigeria frontman had doubled the hosts' advantage with a close-range first-time effort, demonstrating again his intelligent movement off the ball and sharpened finishing instincts in the box.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who had provided the assist for both of Osimhen's goals, added a third for Napoli in the first half, killing off the match as a contest, before the Nigerian rounded off the win with a delightful dinked goal 13 minutes from time.

This was the first hat-trick of the forward's career, and while few these days are in any doubt about his quality, this feat has been a long time coming. He becomes the fifth African player to score three goals in a single Serie A match -- the first in five years -- and follows in the footsteps of George Weah, Patrick Mboma, Mohamed Salah and Keita Balde.

He's moved up to seven league goals for the season, tied at the top of the scoring charts with Marko Arnautovic.

Osimhen has now had a hand in six goals in his last four matches after coming back from a month out with a thigh injury in mid-October, and the player -- like his teammates -- will be rue the pause in club competition for the World Cup later this month.

There's an utter relentlessness about this Napoli team, and their current winning streak has long since surpassed the previous club record of 11 consecutive victories - established by Diego Maradona's Scudetto-winning side 35 years ago.

In Osimhen, they boast a player who may be capable of taking them to another title, although Napoli should surely be bracing themselves for increased transfer speculation around the player's future in January -- both Chelsea and Manchester United continue to be linked. Next up for Osimhen's Napoli are their nearest challengers Atalanta, who are enjoying the services of a Nigerian hotshot of their own this season in the form of Ademola Lookman.

The livewire is enjoying a new lease of life after signing from RasenBallsport Leipzig during the offseason, and added Atalanta's second as they defeated Empoli away in Sunday's early kick-off.

The forward has scored five goals in his first 12 Italian top flight outings so far; could he be the man to halt Napoli's winning streak in its tracks?

A third Nigerian, Cyriel Dessers, had begun to find form in Serie A following his move from Genk to Cremonese, scoring two goals in back-to-back fixtures after having to wait until his ninth match before netting for his new club.

However, he now faces a spell on the sidelines after picking up a thigh injury during the early stages of Sunday's goalless draw with Udinese. The forward, who was replaced in tears in the 23rd minute, faces an anxious wait to see whether he will able to join Nigeria for the international friendlies later this month.

Also in Italy this week, Morocco's Sofyan Amrabat picked up a booking as Fiorentina defeated Spezia 2-1 away. An unremarkable fact in itself, but the central midfielder has now picked up a yellow card in each of his last seven consecutive league games, equalling a record for the top five European leagues set by Joey Barton while at Queens Park Rangers during the 2014-15 season.

In the Bundesliga, Mane and Choupo-Moting delivered excellent performances as Bayern put six goals past Mainz to keep the pressure on unlikely leaders Union Berlin.

Their outings come in the context of impressive recent runs of form for the pair, and Senegal and Cameroon respectively will be hoping to enjoy the services of talents at the peak of their powers come the World Cup in Qatar later this month.

Mane's struggles of September were completely forgotten in October, and he ended the month having had a hand in eight goals in all competitions - including two assists and a goal of his own against Mainz.

The 30-year-old set the tone for Bayern with a fifth-minute assist for Serge Gnabry, but he was arguably eclipsed by Choupo-Moting, who was simply irrepressible leading the line ahead of the lively trio of Mane, Jamal Musiala and Gnabry.

As well as hitting the woodwork, the Cameroon veteran set up Musiala for Bayern's second, before rounding off the win with the hosts' sixth four minutes from time.

At 33, Choupo-Moting was expected to play a peripheral role for the Bavarians this season before leaving at the end of the campaign at the conclusion of his contract, but his recent form appears to have expedited talks on a new deal.

The attacker registered goalscoring returns of three and four in his first two Bundesliga seasons with Bayern, but now has three in his last three top flight games, as well as two assists and three further goals in cup competitions since mid-October.