Juventus opened up a three-point lead at the top of standings with a backs-to-the-wall win over Livorno. They had Gianluigi Buffon to thank for their fourth straight win this season as he single-handedly kept a creative Livorno at bay after Vincenzo Iaquinta and Claudio Marchisio had taken Juve's only chances of the first half.

The Tuscans created chance after chance, but always found a magnificent Buffon between them and their first win back in Serie A. Buffon made his first intervention of a very busy night in the fourth minute when he made an instinctive save to deny Francesco Tavano.

Juventus took their very first chance of the game to go ahead with the in-form Iaquinta striking in the eighth minute. He met Mauro Camoranesi's cross between Marcus Diniz and Leonardo Miglionico and headed it back across Alfonso De Lucia into the bottom corner of the goal.

Livorno did not lose heart and continued to pepper Buffon's goal with Nico Pulzetti's shot deflecting just over the bar in the 11th minute. Their lively playmaker Antonio Candreva then broke through, but pulled his shot wide of the goal with Buffon this time beaten.

Juve then showed an efficiency to take their second chance of the game to double their advantage. Again, it was Camoranesi who provided the assist with a slide-rule pass for Marchisio, who lifted his left-footed shot high into the roof of De Lucia's goal from the left when everybody inside the penalty area was probably waiting for a cross.

Buffon to thank
Having established a two-goal lead, the Bianconeri left it up to Buffon to keep a clean sheet for them and secure the points. And the Italy number one did not disappoint.

Cristiano Lucarelli failed to take the ball around him in the 34th minute, as Buffon got a leg to the ball to divert it behind. From the resulting corner, Buffon made another fine block to deny Diniz his first goal in Serie A.

Buffon continued to impress throughout the second half as he made saves from Antonio Filippini and Lucarelli again before making another instinctive stop to prevent Tomas Danilevicius from giving Livorno hope for the final 25 minutes.

Sebastian Giovinco and David Trezeguet were both withdrawn early to keep them fit for Juve's trip to high-flying Genoa next Thursday. That game could be a top-of-the-table match if the Grifone can follow Juve's example and make it four wins out of four when they go to Chievo tomorrow.

But for now, the Bianconeri lead Serie A with a 100 per cent record after four games of the season.