Jeremy Menez struck a second-half brace in a 2-0 win over Udinese as struggling AC Milan grabbed their first success in six matches to move up to provisional fifth in Serie A on Sunday.

Juventus host Torino in their city derby later looking to at least maintain their three-point lead over Roma, who host Inter Milan at the Olympic Stadium in the evening.

On what was familiar San Siro terrain for coach Andrea Stramaccioni, formerly of Inter, Udinese were bidding to hand Milan only their 14th defeat in 79 meetings between the sides.

But Udinese's reputation for struggling to reproduce their formidable home form on their travels came back to haunt them, while both sides finished with 10 men after Maurizio Domizzi and Michael Essien were sent off within minutes of each other late in the second half.

Domizzi's expulsion followed his tug on Keisuke Honda, which earned the hosts a penalty just after the hour.

Menez stepped up to wrong-foot Orestis Karnezis to claim his sixth league goal of the campaign on 65 minutes, and then beat the goalkeeper from open play 10 minutes later to secure the win.

Before then, Milan had spurned several chances to put the match beyond reach, with Stephan El Shaarawy notably keeping the impressive Karnezis on his toes.

But Milan were denied an early opener when Adil Rami's flicked header from a corner was scrambled out by Karnezis, although television replays suggested the ball had crossed the line.

Milan, nevertheless, continued to dominate.

A counter saw El Shaarawy break on the left flank only for his angled strike to be deflected out for a corner, and he then narrowly failed to convert Daniele Bonera's inviting cross from the right.

Karnezis was in great form and had to be at full stretch to cover Menez's curling drive, which spun an inch past his post after Honda had nodded down.

A great Milan build-up left Menez in space to cross from the the right, but Honda failed to connect at the far post with the goal at his mercy.

Honda was punching the ground in frustration moments later when he failed to get a shot away inside a busy Udinese area.

The Japan international hit the target on the stroke of half-time but Karnezis was down quick to smother his half-scuffed first-time effort from inside the area.

Honda finally found the breakthrough when he fell under Domizzi's tug, and Menez beat Karnezis from the spot after Domizzi saw a straight red for the challenge.

El Shaarawy then curled a drive just wide of the post but Milan were soon in the safety zone when Menez claimed his second on 75 minutes.

The Frenchman collected the ball from just over the halfway line and ran unchallenged into the Udinese area before cutting across goal and beating Karnezis with a fine right-footed strike.

Elsewhere, surprise packages Genoa moved up to provisional third thanks to a 3-0 win at Cesena, who fell 2-0 behind inside seven minutes and saw Massimo Volta score a second-half own goal to add to their woes.

Fired-up Fiorentina leapt up the table with a surprise 4-0 romp at Cagliari with Mati Fernandez (twice), Mario Gomez and Juan Cuadrado all on target for La Viola.

In Palermo, Argentine striker Paulo Dybala got the hosts off the mark against visitors Parma on 37 minutes and after Raffaelle Palladino levelled three minutes later, Osvaldo Barreto scored a second-half winner for the Sicilians.