REGGIO EMILIA, Italy, – Juventus strolled to a 3-0 win at Sassuolo on Tuesday to keep their Serie A title hopes alive in a game where under-pressure forward Jonathan David scored his first league goal since the opening day of the season.

Luciano Spalletti stuck with David who missed a penalty in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Lecce, and the much-maligned forward repaid the manager’s faith by wrapping up the win along with providing an assist for Fabio Miretti.

Juventus are fourth in the standings on 36 points, three off leaders Inter Milan who have played two games fewer while Sassuolo are 11th on 23 points.

The first real chance fell to Juventus, when Kenan Yildiz twisted and turned his way into the area but his powerful low shot was parried away by keeper Arijanet Muric and Andrea Cambiaso sent the rebound into the side netting.

Khephren Thuram was next to try his luck for the visitors, sending his effort straight at the keeper before the opening goal came from an own goal in the 16th minute.

Pierre Kalulu floated a ball into the Sassuolo area and defender Tarik Muharemovic’s header sailed over Muric, who was well off his line, and into his own net.

Yildiz, a constant threat to the home side, had three shots from the edge of the area saved by the keeper before halftime.

Juventus, for all their dominance, went in at the break with just that one-goal advantage against a Sassuolo side which failed to register an effort on target.

The away side continued to press in the second half. David passed to Miretti in the area and the off-balance midfielder sent his shot over the bar but he soon made up for that miss.

David again provided the pass and this time Miretti raced into the box and powered his shot beyond Muric in the 62nd minute. David made it 3-0 one minute later.

The Canadian pounced on a poor Jay Idzes pass back and made his way into the area where he went around the onrushing keeper before firing into the empty net.

The scorer was swamped by his teammates and Spalletti, as a relieved David raced to celebrate his long-awaited goal.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.