Vlahovic and Chiesa fire Juventus to victory over Lazio
The Allianz Stadium’s stands were brimming with energy in the early stages, and that was reciprocated by a Juventus side that immediately went out on the attack.
Their approach earned its reward a mere 10 minutes into proceedings when Weston McKennie stretched to keep the ball in play, continuing a move that culminated in Vlahovic latching onto Manuel Locatelli’s cross to turn in his third goal of the season with a clinical first-time finish.
La Vecchia Signora showed no signs of slowing down as Filip Kostic’s effort from the edge of the box was tipped over by Ivan Provedel.
Lazio still appeared to be gaining a foothold and threatened to equalise with Daichi Kamada firing agonisingly over the crossbar, but Federico Chiesa lashed a first-time effort past Provedel to join Vlahovic on three goals this term - already exceeding his tally in each of the last two campaigns.
While the Biancocelesti kept going, Fabio Miretti came closest to another before the break when his effort curled marginally wide.
Maurizio Sarri responded with a double change at half-time, although that initially did little as Provedel was twice forced into impressive saves to deny an Adrien Rabiot header within minutes of the restart.
Luis Alberto still offered the visitors renewed hope shortly after the hour mark, pouncing on sloppy play from Juventus and curling a wonderful strike out of Wojciech Szczesny’s reach.
Vlahovic quashed that hope just three minutes later, though, controlling Mckennie’s long ball with a brilliant touch, cutting inside Nicolo Casale and firing into the bottom corner.
Despite Timothy Weah’s late miss from close range, Juventus never looked like being caught as Massimiliano Allegri’s team continued their unbeaten start to go top of the Serie A table - even if only for a couple of hours.
They also inflicted Lazio’s third defeat already this season, with Sarri’s side unable to repeat the trick of beating his former employers having overcome Napoli last time out.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus)
