Juventus 1 Roma 0: Gonzalo Higuain sends the Old Lady seven points clear at the top of Serie A with left-foot strike past Arsenal-owned keeper
Massimiliano Allegri didn't want his side to settle for a draw and he didn't need to worry after Juve took a 14th minute lead over Luciano Spalletti's side
JUVENTUS went seven points clear at the top of Serie A after clinging on to a tight 1-0 win over second-placed Roma.
Gonzalo Higuain gave his side a slender lead after 14 minutes and the home team weathered a second-half storm of attacks to secure a win and open up a lovely lead at the summit of Italian football.
Roma’s hopes going into the game were slim. They had only kept one clean sheet against Juve in their last 22 meetings, which came during a 1-0 win in February 2013.
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They had also lost on their last five trips to Turin and manager Luciano Spalletti had only beaten the Old Lady once, drawing three and losing 17 times.
Massimiliano Allegri drummed up a sense of combat around the game – making it cleasr there was a lot more than three points and seven-point lead at stake.
He said: “It will be a head-to-head confrontation against a team who are, at this moment, our number one enemy. A draw will not suffice for me, matches like this have to be won.”
And his side didn’t waste any time drawing first blood and stamping their authority on the league even deeper.
Higuain went close on ten minutes, after Mario Mandzukic teed him up, but Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny saved his effort.
Four minutes later, however, the Gunners fan could do nothing when the former Napoli ace opened the scoring.
Roma icon Daniele De Rossi was robbed of possession by the Argentina striker who sent a left-footed bullet in off the post, leaving the Polish stopper sprawled out on the floor after fruitless dive.
Roma only looked threatening from corners in the first half as they failed to get a foothold in the game and constantly lost possession.
Roma had three chances in the second half to at least pull level but fluffed their lines each time.
Mohamed Salah set up Diego Perotti but he scuffed his shot and Gianluigi Buffon made a routine save. Then another set-piece threatened Juve and dropped for Chelsea target Antonio Rudiger who could not prod the ball home through the crowd.
Then another free-kick was flicked on and Kostas Manolas was all alone at the back stick to convert a diving header but he was too short to connect.