Juventus are on course for another victory in their hunt for the Serie A title after Carlos Tevez fired the hosts ahead against Empoli in Turin.
The Bianconeri, closing in on their fourth consecutive Scudetto, showed their intent early on as Tevez saw his fifth-minute strike stopped by Luigi Sepe in the visiting goal.
Tevez caused further problems on 19 minutes when his turn wrong-footed three defenders, but the Empoli keeper raced off his line to snuff out the danger.
Moments later, a poor clearance found its way to Stephan Lichtsteiner, only for the Swiss international to drag his shot wide of Sepe's left-hand post.
Empoli struggled to deal with Tevez through the half as he continued to beat defenders, linking up with Lichtsteiner before the midfielder failed to deliver an accurate cross.
With 11 minutes left of the opening period, Juve almost forged a breakthrough when Tevez and Fernando Llorente caused confusion in the away side's back line and gifted Lichtsteiner the chance to shoot, but his effort failed to find a way through a crowded penalty area.
Tevez finally found a goal that his first-half performance merited when Sepe was adjudged to have collected a pass back two minutes before the break.
From the resulting free kick the ex-Manchester City striker thrashed the ball into the back of the net.
Chris O'Keefe
