Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira on target in Juventus victory

Gonzalo Higuain reached 15 goals for the Serie A season as Juventus reinforced their position as league leaders with a 2-0 victory at Sassuolo.

The striker continued his recent hot streak in front of goal with an early opener in Reggio Emilia, before Germany midfielder Sami Khedira made a rare appearance on the scoresheet to guarantee all three points for Massimiliano Allegri's men.

With closest challengers Roma going down to a surprise 3-2 loss at Sampdoria, the Turin club are now four points out in front ahead of next weekend's Derby d'Italia clash with fast-improving Inter Milan back at the Juventus Stadium.

Despite their enduring dominance of the Italian game -- a record sixth straight Scudetto is on the cards -- two defeats across their last six games had left Juve vulnerable to free-scoring Roma, who were just one point behind heading into Sunday's matches.

The Bianconeri could do nothing about subduing Roma first hand as the title rivals will not meet again until May but they could concentrate on accelerating their own efforts, which continued at the Mapei Stadium, home to underperforming Sassuolo.

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Higuain, with four goals from his previous three league games, gave Juve an early boost. Nine minutes in Alex Sandro, liberated by a deft backheel from Mario Mandzukic, crossed the ball into Higuain's path and the Argentinian shrugged off Francesco Acerbi's challenge to beat Andrea Consigli with ease.

Another pinpoint cross, this time from Mandzukic, put Higuain into another shooting position in the 21st minute but he could only blast wide from close range.

Four minutes later Juve doubled their lead, Paulo Dybala allowing Higuain's pass to skip him and arrive with Khedira, who finished with his left foot.

The reigning champions showed no signs of letting up when play restarted following the break, and ball-playing centre-back Leonardo Bonucci almost made it 3-0 five minutes into the second half when his deflected swing at a Miralem Pjanic corner shaved paint off one of Consigli's posts.

Dybala went closer still after collecting Juan Cuadrado's flick-on and clattering it against an upright.

Juve decided to take a breather, perhaps unwisely as Sassuolo were soon on the offensive, 39-year-old Gianluigi Buffon forced to make a double save against Matteo Politano and then Alessandro Matri, who was looking for the tap-in.

Normal service was resumed in the 69th minute as Higuain beat the offside trap to test Consigli with a low shot that the Sassuolo stopper smothered.