Roma closed to within a point of Serie A leaders Juventus by ending Genoa's nine-match unbeaten stand with a 1-0 victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
The hosts suffered an early setback when goalkeeper Mattia Perin was dismissed for a professional foul but his replacement Eugenio Lamanna saved Adem Ljajic's penalty with his first touch.
Radja Nainggolan then scored the only goal of the game yet, while Roma went on to dominate the remaining hour, they were lucky that Tomas Rincon's last-gasp goal was ruled out for offside.
Earlier, Manolo Gabbiadini came off the bench to score a second-half equaliser as Sampdoria ended Juventus' perfect home run with a 1-1 draw.
Patrice Evra put the hosts ahead with his first goal for Juve in the 12th minute but the Bianconeri were unable to extend their lead despite having chances to do so and were made to pay.
Gabbiadini struck the equaliser six minutes into the second half to earn Samp a deserved point in Turin.
Elsewhere, AC Milan are only two points shy of the final Champions League place after beating their rivals Napoli 2-0 at San Siro.
Jeremy Menez notched his eighth goal of the season shortly after kick-off and Giacomo Bonaventura pushed the Rossoneri into a dominant position with a header just after half-time.
The result means Milan climb above Napoli and into seventh place. Immediately above them are Lazio, Sampdoria and Genoa, who are all locked on 26 points and also targeting continental football.
Domenico Di Carlo failed to make a winning impact in his first game in the Cesena dugout as Fiorentina claimed a comfortable 4-1 victory at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi.
The former Chievo and Livorno boss replaced Pierpaolo Bisoli this week with a view to extracting the Seahorses from a relegation battle, but he learned exactly how tough that task will be on Sunday.
Goals either side of the break from Borja Valero and Stefan Savic gave Fiorentina a healthy lead and, after the latter helped Cesena out with an own-goal, home defender Massimo Volta was sent off.
Gonzalo Rodriguez and substitute Mounir El Hamdaoui promptly used the extra space to grab a goal apiece, with the defeat leaving Cesena five points from 17th-placed Torino and safety.
Lazaros Christodoulopoulos inspired Hellas Verona to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory at Udinese as they ended a three-match losing run.
Udinese captain Antonio Di Natale put the hosts ahead in the 31st minute before Christodoulopoulos set up Luca Toni for the equaliser before half-time.
The Greece international then put Hellas in front for good with his first goal of the season two minutes after the restart. The Verona outfit held on for their fourth league win of the campaign, their first since Oct. 4.
Bottom side Parma halted a four-match losing streak with a goalless draw at home to fellow strugglers Cagliari.
In a game played at a slow tempo, the visitors were the better side but could not find a way past Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mirante, who made three saves to earn his team a valuable point at the Ennio Tardini stadium.