Luciano Spalletti has encouraged his Juventus side to enjoy the pressure that comes with representing the club.

The Bianconeri are fifth in Serie A, one point behind Como as they battle for a place in next season's Champions League.

Juventus followed up a 4-0 victory over Pisa with a 1-0 triumph over Udinese, and could record three consecutive wins with an accompanying clean sheet for the first time in Serie A in over a year when they face Sassuolo on Saturday.

Should Juventus win against Sassuolo, Spalletti will become the fourth manager to reach 300 victories in Serie A history (currently 299 wins in 579 Serie A games – D137 L143).

Spalletti has urged his Juventus side to embrace the pressure facing them, especially for the sake of the fans.

"Pressure is a privilege that belongs only to those who have a history to honour and to want to write," said the Juventus boss.

"What defines a team is the way it faces risk. We, as a reference, don't just have the result of a match but all the people who make up the atmosphere, who are our fans.

"That is our reference: there is nothing that has the value of the love that our fans have for us.

"The team will have to continue to be a team, to prepare the matches well in their heads, to know how to take risks because it has to be done.

"Let's take as an example the match against Sassuolo. Fabio Grosso is a good coach. Sassuolo is one of the best teams for footballing ideas, both when they regain the ball wanting to immediately turn the action around and when they build from the back.

"There will be a need to be good at reading the moments of the match."

Sassuolo, meanwhile, sit 10th in Serie A, and are coming into this game on the back of two consecutive defeats to Lazio and Bologna, following a three-game winning run.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Juventus – Kenan Yildiz

With his winning pass for Jeremie Boga's goal in the last league match against Udinese, Kenan Yildiz has become just the fourth Juventus player to record 10 goals and 10 assists in a single season (including the Club World Cup) across the last 10 seasons in all competitions.

Sassuolo – Ismael Kone

Among midfielders in Serie A with at least five goals scored this term, only Martin Baturina (36%) has a higher shot conversion rate than Ismael Kone (29%).

Furthermore, only Donyell Malen (seven) and Giovanni Simeone (seven) have scored more goals than the Canadian (five) among players who are yet to provide an assist in the current edition.

MATCH PREDICTION – JUVENTUS WIN

The last four Serie A meetings between Juventus and Sassuolo have been perfectly balanced, with two wins each.

Juventus won the two most recent matches by an aggregate score of 6-0, while Sassuolo won the two previous encounters by an aggregate score of 5-2.

Juventus are the side against whom Sassuolo have lost the most Serie A matches (16 of 23 total – W4 D3) and the team against whom the Emilians have conceded the most goals (55) in the top-flight.

Only one of Sassuolo's four Serie A victories against Juventus has come away from home – the 2-1 win on 27 October 2021, thanks to goals from Davide Frattesi and Maxime Lopez.

Additionally, Sassuolo have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their 11 away games against Juventus in the competition, conceding 30 goals at an average of 2.7 per match.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Juventus – 67%

Draw – 18.4%

Sassuolo – 13.6%