Luciano Spalletti is seeing signs that his Juventus team will challenge for the Serie A title in the years to come after their 2-0 win over Bologna on Sunday.
Juventus' upturn in results also now has them breathing down the necks of AC Milan and Napoli, with just three points separating them and those aforementioned sides.
And that run has been built on their solid defence. They have won five of their last six league matches (one draw) without conceding a goal, just one clean sheet fewer than they managed in their first 18 outings under Spalletti.
But their attack also played its part, too. David has been involved in 10 goals in this Serie A season (six goals, four assists).
Considering his first season in Europe's top five leagues since 2020-21, only Erling Haaland and Amine Gouiri have reached at least double figures in goal involvements in each of the last six seasons in those divisions among players born in 2000 or later.
Juventus were deserving victors and perhaps should have scored more, having generated an expected goals (xG) total of 1.1 from their 14 shots to Bologna's 0.5 from their seven attempts, though none of those tested Michele Di Gregorio.
Spalletti acknowledged the importance of their victory, with a blockbuster clash with Milan their next Serie A assignment on April 25.
"What we absolutely could not do wrong, seeing the other results, was dropping our intensity because we could see ourselves maintaining this position regardless of our performance," Spalletti added. "That was the risk, so we needed to have the right attitude from the start and maintain it.
"We knew that Bologna had a tough week with travel and the Europa League, so we knew that if we maintained the intensity, it would give us a significant advantage.
"Everyone did that really well, and we scored early. There were times when the quality of Bologna forced us back, but that's inevitable with a strong side like Vincenzo Italiano's."