Ever Banega made the most of a rare start as he scored one and set up another to help Inter Milan comfortably beat Cagliari 5-1 and remain six points behind Napoli.
Cagliari gave Inter Milan an early scare as Joao Pedro lobbed Samir Handanovic and Gary Medel had to acrobatically clear off the line.
Inter broke the deadlock in the 36th when Ivan Perisic controlled Banega's chipped pass with his right foot and hit it past Gabriel with his left.
Banega doubled Inter's lead three minutes later with a free kick into the top left corner.
Cagliari got back into it shortly after. Handanovic did well to keep out David Di Gennaro's free kick but the ball was crossed back in for Marco Borriello to head home.
Perisic doubled his tally two minutes after the break following a lovely one-two with Mauro Icardi, who backheeled it for the Croatia forward to curl into the bottom right corner.
Icardi scored his 17th league goal of the season with a penalty in the 67th after he was tripped by Gabriel and Roberto Gagliardino netted his first for Inter two minutes from time.