Didier Deschamps' side have a commanding lead in Le Championnat, but their Christmas break will not be as happy as it might have been after Cedric Barbosa scored just after the break to hand Rennes all three points.
Didier Drogba's second half effort lifted Marseille to a 1-0 win over basement outfit Toulouse.
Marseille have slipped off the pace in France and for over an hour struggling Toulouse frustrated Alain Perrin's men.
However, prolific striker Drogba applied the perfect finish to a neat Marseille move to hand the home side a much-needed three points.
Perrin has been under real pressure of late and this win may well keep him at the Stade Velodrome.
Ajaccio boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop with a battling 2-0 win over Lens.
Nicolas Bonnal and Yohan Demont scored the goals that handed Ajaccio an important three points.
Goals in each half by Sammy Traore and Lilian Laslandes gave Nice a comfortable 2-0 home win over Guingamp who finished with ten men after Blaise Kouassi was dismissed 20 minutes from time.
Frederic Da Rocha's strike on two minutes handed Nantes an impressive 1-0 win over Auxerre.
Bordeaux's revival continued with a 2-0 win over Metz. Juan Pablo Francia and Maromane Chamakh were the successful marksmen.
Le Mans remain in relegation trouble as they were twice pegged back by Sochaux. Daniel Cousin scored twice for Le Mans but Sochaux took a point from their away trip thanks to goals by Francileudo Santos and Jaouad Zairi.
Strasbourg twice came from behind before beating Montpellier 4-2.
Bruno Carotti and Jerome Lafourcade twice had Montpellier in front but Strasbourg showed real resolve and two goals by Ulrich Le Pen and efforts from Eric Mouloungui and Christian Bassila secured the win for the home side.
Vladimir Mantchev had a fruitful trip to Corsica, as he scored both goals in Lille's 2-0 win over Bastia. The game was not without incident as there was a power failure in injury time, with the match being delayed for 10 minutes before the final 30 seconds were played when the lights came back on.
Match summaries
AC Ajaccio v Lens
Bastia v Lille
Bordeaux v Metz
Le Mans v Sochaux
Marseille v Toulouse
Nantes v Auxerre
Nice v Guingamp
Rennes v Monaco
Strasbourg v Montpellier
