Scott McTominay follows Scotland heroics with key Napoli moment amid EPL return rumours

The midfielder played the full 90 minutes and picked up his second assist of the season as the defending champions returned to the top of Serie A, a point ahead of Inter, who host the Milan derby on Sunday night.

McTominay's key contribution arrived on 38 minutes with a perfectly weighted through ball for David Neres to score his second of the match, the Brazilian having already put Napoli ahead after 17 minutes.

Napoli made it 3-0 before the break through Noa Lang and although Gianluca Scamacca pulled one back for Atalanta at the start of the second half, the hosts held on to their two-goal margin of victory at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

As well as notching an assist, McTominay was one of the game's most influential players with an 88 per cent pass completion rate, winning seven out of 14 duels - the most of any player - and making nine defensive recoveries.

The 28-year-old, who scored Scotland’s spectacular opener in the 4-2 win over Denmark which sealed World Cup qualification for the first time in 27 years, has been the subject of transfer speculation over a possible return to the Premier League. Everton manager David Moyes played down rumours of a possible £60million bid during his press conference on Friday, while Tottenham have also been linked with a move for the ex-Manchester United man.

McTominay’s club and country team-mate, Billy Gilmour, again missed out for Napoli with the muscle strain that forced him to withdraw from the Scotland squad, but it is hoped the midfielder will be fit to return next week.

Elsewhere, Lewis Ferguson and Lennon Miller were both unused subs for their respective sides as Bologna claimed a 3-0 win at Udinese. Ferguson, the Bologna club captain, was likely rested after playing the full 180 minutes of Scotland's World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Denmark over the past week.

Miller, meanwhile, who missed out on international duty due to a knock, was fit enough to return to the Udinese bench, where he has spent the majority of the season since his £4.7m move from Motherwell in the summer. The 19-year-old has made four substitute appearances in Serie A thus far, and started one match in the Coppa Italia, netting his first goal for the club against Palermo.

Scotland striker Che Adams is in action on Sunday evening when Torino host Como while Sassuolo left-back Josh Doig, who was part of Steve Clarke's squad for the World Cup qualifiers but never got on the pitch, will hope to feature when his side hosts Pisa in Serie A on Sunday night.