Jeremie Boga was the matchwinner for Juventus as they defeated top-four rivals Atalanta 1-0 at New Balance Arena.

The forward scored the only goal in the 48th minute, helping Juventus climb into the top four in Serie A ahead of Como's clash with Inter on Sunday, while La Dea are now seven points off the Champions League places in seventh.

Atalanta came racing out of the blocks, with Davide Zappacosta forcing a save from Michele Di Gregorio before Nicola Zalewski fired narrowly wide and Giorgio Scalvini's header crashed against the post in the opening nine minutes.

Juve started to find some rhythm as Khephren Thuram and Lloyd Kelly both saw efforts go just wide of the target, though La Dea went close with the final kick of the first half as Nikola Krstovic's bicycle kick flew past the left post.

The hosts were made to pay for wastefulness just three minutes into the second half. They failed to clear Emil Holm's cross, allowing Boga to prod into an unguarded net as Marco Carnesecchi was caught in no man's land.

Atalanta continued to pile on the pressure in search of an equaliser, but Di Gregorio first kept out a header from Berat Djimsiti before Gianluca Scamacca glanced an effort just over the crossbar in the 88th minute as the Bianconeri left with all three points.

Data Debrief: Boga leads Champions League push

Raffaele Palladino will be left wondering how his side did not gain at least a point after producing 1.82 expected goals (xG) from 22 shots to Juve's 0.63 from seven attempts.

Charles De Ketelaere was at the heart of things for Atalanta, leading the match in shots (four), touches in the box (nine), chances created (six), duels contested (21) and fouls won (five), though he could not find the all-important goal they were seeking.

However, Boga did so for Juve at the other end; since his first Serie A goal for Juve on March 1 against Roma, only Donyell Malen (five) has scored more goals than Boga in the Italian top-flight (four).