Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri hailed his "clinical" side after a 3-1 win over Empoli allowed the Italian champions to record their second successive league win for the first time this season.

"We were a lot more clinical today," Allegri told reporters after seeing Mario Mandzukic, Patrice Evra and Paulo Dybala hit a goal apiece to cancel out Massimo Maccarone's early opener for the hosts.

Juve had only four scoring opportunities the entire game and Allegri added: "In previous games we've had a lot more shots and didn't score. Today, we made the most of all our chances."

It was Juve's fifth win in 12 games and moved them up to seventh place at nine points adrift of leaders Inter Milan -- a far more respectable position considering Juve were just four points above the drop zone last month.

With Inter, Roma, Fiorentina and Napoli all within just a few points of each other at the top of the table, the race for this season's scudetto is shaping up to be a classic.

Juventus have been ruled out of contention by many pundits in Italy, and although Allegri refuses to talk up his side's chances of a fifth consecutive league crown the Juve coach is already looking ahead to their next league game, at home to AC Milan, in a fortnight.

"It was an important win for us today and allows us some peace of mind ahead of the international break," said Allegri.

"I can understand that it's not great to see us in seventh place after 12 games, but that's the way it is. You can't change everything in the space of one game so we have to continue step by step.

"Now we have to aim for sixth place, then fifth and then see how far we can go. Obviously, we're going to be working hard to make sure we close the gap as much as possible.

"After the break we've got Milan and they're two points ahead of us so it's a crucial game."