Montpellier moved up to second in Ligue 1 with a 3-1 win over Caen, while Marseille, Nancy and St Etienne all won their games.
Montpellier move up to second in Ligue 1 as they close in on PSG
Montpellier moved up to second in Ligue 1 with a 3-1 win over Caen, while Marseille, Nancy and St Etienne all won their games.
Montpellier's win put them level on points with league leaders PSG but they have now played a game more than their rivals, while Lorient and Toulouse lost ground on the top teams.
Evian gained a valuable point in their battle to fend off relegation by drawing with
Sochaux, as did
Brest, who were held by
Bordeaux.
Montpellier had to play 25 minutes of their game with ten men after Joris Marveaux was sent off for a second bookable offence.
But it did little to sway the outcome. Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa and John Utaka had put them two goals up after 20 minutes.
Scored
Younes Belhanda scored their third goal 11 minutes from time before Benjamin Nivet managed to pull one back three minutes later.
Things got worse for Caen when Pierre-Alain Frau received his second yellow two minutes before full-time.
Marseille bounced back from their midweek UEFA Champions League defeat to Arsenal with a 2-0 win over
Ajaccio.
Andre Ayew set them up for the win as he scored on the half-hour mark, and he was on the score sheet again after the interval as he completed his brace in the 59th minute.
In the late kick-off,
Lorient and
Toulouse failed to fully close the gap on the front-runners as they played out a 0-0 draw.
Valciennes' defeat to St Etienne edged them closer to the relegation zone, which they remain out of just on goal difference.
Batlles
Laurent Batlles scored the only goal of the game after 50 minutes to move his team up to eighth in Ligue 1.
Nancy gave their hopes of climbing out of the bottom three a massive shot in the arm as they edged past
Nice 1-0 to claim their first win of the term.
The victory leaves them just one point adrift of reaching fourth from bottom as they eye the teams around them.
Yoan Gouffran gave
Bordeaux the lead after 52 minutes in their 1-1 draw with
Brest after a goalless first half.
However, just 11 minutes later their own defence was breached by Eden Ben Basat to claim the equaliser.
Bordeaux are third from bottom, although they are level on nine points with Brest, who are just outside the relegation zone courtesy of their better goal difference.
Aldo Angoula's last-minute goal for
Evian earned them a valuable point. Edouard Butin had put
Sochaux ahead after 51 minutes and they looked on course for a victory, but Angoula strike ensured the points were shared.
