Roma held scoreless at Sampdoria

Genoa, Italy (SportsNetwork.com) - AS Roma was held in check by Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday as the two sides played to a 0-0 draw.

There was little in the way of scoring opportunities, though Gervinho came close to breaking the deadlock at the half-hour mark when he went around Sampdoria goalkeeper Sergio Romero but could only manage to turn his shot onto the post from a tough angle.

Roma was silenced the rest of the way, salvaging a point to go level with Juventus atop the table on 19 points apiece, though the Old Lady can go three points clear at the summit with a defeat of Palermo on Sunday.

Sampdoria, still unbeaten through eight league games, remains in third place in the table on 16 points.

While there were no goals to speak of at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Cagliari managed to cruise to a 4-0 victory at Empoli thanks to a brace from Danilo Fernando Avelar.

Marco Sau had opened the scoring for the visitors in the 31st minute before Avelar doubled the advantage six minutes later.

Avelar extended the lead with a penalty in the 38th while Albin Ekdal struck just before halftime to complete Cagliari's comfortable victory.

Also in Italy's top flight on Saturday, Sassuolo claimed its first win of the season with a 3-1 defeat of Parma. Sergio Floccari, Francesco Acerbi and Saphir Taider provided the goals for Sassuolo while Antonio Cassano netted a consolation goal for Parma.