Luciano Spalletti feels Juventus must end the "culture of alibis" that has developed around their injury crisis, saying: "If I lose a starter, I gain another protagonist."

Ahead of Sunday's trip to Sassuolo, Juve have seven points on the board from three games in Serie A this season.

They started their first full campaign under Spalletti with shutout victories over Frosinone and Parma, then scored a stoppage-time equaliser to salvage a draw versus AC Milan last week.

And the Bianconeri's positive start has come despite Kenan Yildiz, Khephren Thuram, Jeremie Boga, Andrea Cambiaso, Juan Cabal and Pape Matar Sarr all missing time.

It was also confirmed this week that captain Manuel Locatelli had undergone knee surgery and could be absent for up to six months, but Spalletti is confident the midfielder's team-mates will step up.

"I have to start by saying how sorry we feel about what happened to Locatelli, but his absence distributes responsibility onto everyone else," Spalletti told reporters. 

"Locatelli is someone who doesn't even take the Juventus jersey off to shower! That's how much he cares about it. 

"I saw the responsibility taken on by his team-mates in these training sessions. They are ready to fight against any adverse situation."

Spalletti then said Juve's selection crisis cannot be used as an excuse if they fall short at the MAPEI Stadium on Sunday.

"I have a strong squad, so I choose 11 strong players every game, but I also have to leave another 11 equally strong ones on the bench," he added.

"If I lose a starter, I gain another protagonist. It’s about framing – you don't say we’re missing someone, you say someone else is ready.

"It's that culture of alibis that leads us to think in that negative way. I think we need to win games, dominate situations and play like Juve. 

"If we start thinking that we're limited by incidents, that is not good. In fact, I don't even want to talk about injuries any more."

One player who could feature against Sassuolo – who are on four points after three games – is Nick Woltemade, who came off the bench for his Serie A debut versus Milan, having arrived on loan from Newcastle United on transfer deadline day.

"We are evaluating starting him, as he has already settled in and everyone appreciated him from the first training session," Spalletti said of Woltemade.

"He will be in the game, sooner or later."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Sassuolo –Armand Lauriente 

Lauriente (16) has attempted the most shots without scoring in Serie A this season. 

Another Sassuolo player, Kieron Bowie, has the highest expected goals figure (1.55 xG) among players yet to score, while Juventus' Randal Kolo Muani (1.54) is just behind him.

The hosts will need one of their misfiring forwards to step up if they are to earn a result. 

Juventus – Nico Gonzalez

Sassuolo are the side against whom Gonzalez has scored the most goals in his Serie A career, with four.

The Argentine has five league goals since March, and among all players with at least the same number of goals in Europe's big five leagues, he has played the fewest minutes (418).

MATCH PREDICTION – JUVENTUS WIN

Sassuolo have won two of their last three home Serie A games against Juventus (L1), after only securing one victory in their first nine home matches against the Bianconeri (D2 L6).

The teams drew their most recent Serie A encounter 1-1 in March, after none of their previous nine league meetings had ended in a draw (Juventus won six, Sassuolo won three). 

The last time these two sides recorded two consecutive draws in Serie A was in July 2020.

But it is Spalletti's team who are backed by the Opta supercomputer. Since the start of March, they have conceded the fewest goals in Serie A (10) among ever-present teams, also losing the joint-fewest games (one, level with Inter). 

Only Roma (32) have earned more points than the Bianconeri (30, level with Como and Lazio) in this period.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Sassuolo – 21.3%

Juventus – 54.3%

Draw – 24.4%