Lyon beat Metz 2-0 to move four points clear at the top, while third-placed Nancy defeated Lens.
Lyon extend lead, Nancy sink Lens
Lyon put the pressure back on Bordeaux as they beat Metz 2-0 to move four points clear at the top, while third-placed Nancy defeated Lens.
Bottom-of-the-table
Metz lasted just 11 minutes until they fell behind against leaders
Lyon.
Fred grabbed the goal and the Brazilian then made sure of the three points with a second on 68 minutes.
Lens took the lead against
Nancy through Kader Mangane (41), but Pascal Berenguer equalised in the 69th minute.
Moncef Zerka then struck again four minutes later to make the final score 2-1 to Nancy.
High-flying
Nice were shocked 2-1 by
Auxerre despite opening the scoring courtesy of Bakari Kone (46).
Stephane Grichting drew Auxerre level just a minute later and Daniel Niculae scored the winner on 67 minutes.
Le Mans boosted their European hopes with a hard-fought 2-1 win at
Valenciennes.
It looked like it would be straightforward for Le Mans as Tulio de Melo (3) and Anthony Le Tallec (17) gave them a good lead early on.
However, they were made to scrap for the points after Williams Martinez pulled one back for Valenciennes on the stroke of half-time.
Caen's miserable run continued as they were beaten 3-1 at home by
St Etienne.
Caen had been challenging for a European spot until a few weeks ago but they failed to win for a sixth successive game as St Etienne ran out comfortable winners at Michel-d'Ornano.
The damage was done in the first half with Geoffrey Dernis netting a brace (19 & 37) and Bafetimbi Gomis also scoring in the 37th minute.
Lilian Compan struck in the 63rd minute for Caen but it was too little too late.
Monaco came from behind top draw 1-1 with
Paris Saint Germain, with Sergio Almiron (68) cancelling out Amara Diane's opener on 41 minutes.
Goals from Jimmy Briand (43) and Jerome Leroy (64) helped
Rennes beat
Lorient 2-0 and pull further clear of trouble.
Sochaux remain in the bottom three despite winning 2-0 at
Strasbourg.
Mickael Isabey broke the deadlock for Sochaux on 16 minutes and Mevlud Erding found the target on 37 minutes.
Caen 1 St Etienne 3
Lyon 2 Metz 0
Nancy 2 Lens 1
Nice 1 Auxerre 2
Paris Saint Germain 1 Monaco 1
Rennes 2 Lorient 0
Strasbourg 0 Sochaux 2
Valenciennes 1 Le Mans 2
