Juventus warmed up for their top-of-the-table clash with Napoli by beating Sampdoria 4-1 in Turin.
On Saturday the Bianconeri will lock horns with one of their fiercest Scudetto rivals at the Juventus Stadium and it was vital Massimiliano Allegri's men went into the showdown in positive mood.
Mario Mandzukic and Giorgio Chiellini boosted confidence with early goals and, after struggling Samp responded through maiden scorer Patrik Schick, Bosnia's Miralem Pjanic propelled Juve clear.
There was even enough room behind the visiting backline for defender Chiellini to add goal number four, further humiliating the Genoese club as they suffered a fourth away defeat of the new season.
Juve's 1-0 San Siro defeat to AC Milan at the weekend left them vulnerable to the chasing pack and indeed Roma managed to close to within two points by hammering Palermo on Sunday night.
A convincing home victory was required to banish any creeping doubts and the champions wasted no time setting about a Samp defence without a clean sheet in eight games in pursuit of that goal.
It took Mandzukic only four minutes to score the opener, the Croatian snaking between Jacopo Sala and Matias Silvestre before heading Juan Cuadrado's cross into the net.
Five minutes later it was 2-0 as Chiellini nodded Pjanic's corner kick beyond a stranded Christian Puggioni.
Juve might have added their third before the break but Gonzalo Higuain blasted wide after a nifty one-two with Mandzukic and later saw the ball snatched off his feet by Samp's goalkeeper.
The visitors looked more solid when play resumed and shortly before the hour mark Czech youngster Schick grabbed a first goal in Blucerchiati after seizing on a Chiellini mistake and tucking home.
Juve made sure to punish their opponents for daring to answer back when Pjanic got on the scoresheet in the 65th minute.
The provider for the second goal benefited from a six-yard-box spill by Puggioni on a Higuain shot and the ball was in the Samp net once again.
Higuain, without a goal in his three previous appearances, got Puggioni moving as the final 10 minutes approached, the 90 million euro striker smashing straight into the veteran stopper's gloves.
It fell to Chiellini to show the Argentinian how it should be done. The Italy defender completed a rare brace -- his first since October 2014, when he doubled up for Italy against Azerbaijan -- by converting Cuadrado's free-kick.