Juventus boss Luciano Spalletti has urged his side to prove themselves ahead of what he expects to be a tightly contested Serie A campaign, beginning with a trip to Frosinone. The Bianconeri are coming off a largely disappointing 2025-26 campaign, where they fell away in the race for Champions League football late on, settling in the end for a sixth-placed league finish. Spalletti, who replaced Igor Tudor midway through last season, has overseen a promising pre-season amid a minor squad overhaul, with Guglielmo Vicario, Randal Kolo Muani, Kerim Alajbegovic, Zeki Celik and Jhon Lucumi among the notable arrivals. Despite those changes, Spalletti believes Juve still have work to do, pointing to the fierce competition in Serie A and the improvements made by rivals Inter, Napoli, AC Milan and Roma. "The bell has rung, the season has started, and whoever isn't ready will feel themselves getting pushed towards the exit," the Juve boss warned in his pre-match press conference. "Teams are always evolving, so players must be prepared to go with that flow. "There are seven or eight teams who can challenge for the top four, and last season we missed out. "We've got to prove ourselves and become a balanced team. We have improved, but only the results will show us how much we've improved."The squad right now is cohesive, united, but in the future I'd like us to also be solid, robust, determined. "In general, we've had a good transfer market, some areas need a few cosmetic changes, others entire restoration projects."We had a good transfer strategy and are in a position to do more, but Milan made good investments, Inter and Napoli were already strong, Roma signed important players. "They are all up there and have the same ambition, we all want to win many games."Spalletti also congratulated newly promoted Frosinone ahead of their return to the top-flight, adding: "I want to congratulate Frosinone on returning to Serie A and my friend Massimiliano Alvini for the work he did to achieve promotion."PLAYERS TO WATCH Frosinone – Giacomo Calo Frosinone midfielder Giacomo Calo scored 10 goals and picked up 15 assists in Serie B last season. This makes him one of just two players, alongside Bayern Munich forward Michael Olise (15 goals and 19 assists), to register at least 10 goals and 15 assists last season across Europe's big-five leagues and their respective second divisions. Juventus – Randal Kolo Muani Following a year on loan at Tottenham, Kolo Muani returned to Juventus from Paris Saint-Germain on a permanent deal this summer. The Frenchman has scored a goal every 146 minutes on average for Juventus in Serie A – his best minutes-per-goal ratio for a team in Europe's big-five leagues. Kolo Muani, who scored eight goals from 26 shots across 16 league games for the Bianconeri, had the highest shot conversion rate (31%) in his previous spell in Italy in 2024-25. MATCH PREDICTION: JUVENTUS WIN Despite having won just one of their last five Serie A matches (D3 L1), Juve arrive as favourites ahead of kick-off at the Stadio Benito Stirpe on Sunday. The Bianconeri have won six of their last seven league matches against promoted sides (D1), though they drew their most recent such fixture 1-1 against Sassuolo last season. In total, Juve have only lost one of their last 20 Serie A games against promoted teams (W13 D6), with that sole defeat coming against Parma in April 2025. Spalletti will be hoping to build on his side's strong record, with the Bianconeri having won their last five Serie A matches against Frosinone. Across these five matches, Juventus have registered an aggregate score of 12-3, scoring at least two goals in each outing. Juve have also won 13 of their last 15 opening Serie A matches (D1 L1), while keeping clean sheets in six of their last seven, including their last four on the trot. Frosinone, meanwhile, have lost all three of their opening Serie A matches (1-2 vs Torino in 2015-16, 0-4 vs Atalanta in 2018-19 and 1-3 vs Napoli in 2023-24). Only Cremonese, Palermo and Triestina have lost more (four) in Italian top-flight history. OPTA WIN PROBABILITY Frosinone – 15.9% Draw – 22.4% Juventus – 61.7%