Ciro Immobile's 14th league goal of the season was enough to earn Lazio a hard fought 1-0 win over struggling Cagliari on Sunday that extended their Serie A winning run to six games.

A defensive approach from the visitors left Simone Inzaghi's side frustrated until Italy striker Immobile latched onto a Sergej Milinkovic-Savic knock-down to fire in from close range after 61 minutes.

The 30-year-old is second only to Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo, with 16 goals, in the Serie A scoring charts.

Cagliari played more expansively after going behind and threatened late on when substitute Gaston Pereiro blasted over from a promising position moments after coming on.

But Lazio held on for a victory that moved them ahead of Napoli and Atalanta into fifth place, level with rivals AS Roma in fourth on 40 points.

The defeat extended Cagliari's winless league run to 14 games, and left them in 18th place on 15 points.