Jonathan David banished memories of last week’s penalty miss with a goal and an assist as Juventus cruised to a 3-0 victory over Sassuolo, also benefiting from strikes by Fabio Miretti and a Tarik Muharemovic own goal.
The Bianconeri moved level on points with Roma in fourth place after the weekend, coming off a frustrating 1-1 draw with Lecce in which David had failed from the spot.
Despite that setback, the Canadian retained his place in a Juventus side stretched by injuries to Francisco Conceicao, Lloyd Kelly, Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti, Daniele Rugani, Jonas Rouhi and Arek Milik.
Teun Koopmeiners dropped into defence, while Miretti was handed a starting role. Sassuolo, meanwhile, were without key men Domenico Berardi, Cristian Volpato, Filippo Romagna, Daniel Boloca and Edoardo Pieragnolo, with Woyo Coulibaly away at AFCON.
Juventus asserted control early on, with Kenan Yildiz robbing Sebastian Walukiewicz and forcing Arijanet Muric into a sharp near-post save, Andrea Cambiaso crashing the rebound into the side-netting. Khephren Thuram also tested Muric as the pressure mounted.
The breakthrough arrived in fortunate fashion when Pierre Kalulu’s low cross from the right was turned into his own net by Tarik Muharemovic, leaving Muric stranded off his line. Weston McKennie and Yildiz continued to pepper the Sassuolo goal, both drawing further saves from the busy goalkeeper.
Sassuolo’s problems deepened when Kristian Thorstvedt was forced off with a shoulder injury after a clash with Koopmeiners.
Juventus smelled blood, and after Muric denied Thuram again, Miretti missed a good chance from close range following a clever Jonathan David lay-off.
The second goal finally came when a long Di Gregorio clearance was controlled and played through for Miretti, who showed pace and composure to beat two defenders and slide the ball past the advancing Muric.
Juventus struck again moments later as Sassuolo imploded at the back. David capitalised on a weak Jay Idzes back-pass, rounded Muric and calmly finished despite Walukiewicz scrambling back to the goal line.
The celebration was telling, with the entire Juventus bench joining the Canadian, who was scoring his first Serie A goal in 16 matches amid talk of dressing-room tension.
David almost doubled his tally after another defensive error but fired over the bar, while Di Gregorio was finally called into action late on, parrying a Nicholas Pierini free kick and dealing with a dangerous Luca Lipani cross-shot as Juventus closed out a dominant win.
