Draws all round

Le Havre 2-3 Nancy
Monaco 1-0 Grenoble
Le Mans 0-2 Nantes
Auxerre 0-0 Lorient
Valenciennes 1-0 Nice
PSG 2-0 Caen
Rennes 0-0 Toulouse
Sochaux 1-0 Marseille
Bordeaux 2-2 Lille
Lyon 1-1 St Etienne

After going goal crazy last week, Toulouse couldn't find a way past an obdurate Rennes defence. Two of the best defences in the land cancelled each other out and, as a result, the match was low on spectacle. Rennes had the better chances, but those too came few and far between. Jimmy Briand was lively and Mickaël Pagis shanked a couple of sharp chances over the bar, but neither keeper had an overly hard time in earning their money. On any other day, both sides would have lost ground on the leaders, but charity was in rich supply elsewhere.

Marseille couldn't find a way past Sochaux who had Mevlut Erding's goal to thank for easing them away from the bottom. Erding lobbed Steve Mandanda after latching onto a long through ball that the Marseille defence couldn't deal with and, despite OM having a massive amount of possession and all the chances, was that. Bordeaux had to come from behind to grab a draw with Lille. David Bellion put Laurent Blanc's side ahead, but goals from Ludovic Obraniak and Adil Rami put the northerners ahead. It was that man again - Yoann Gourcuff - who popped up with a header to snatch the point. It really should have been more for Bordeaux, but a host of chances wasted put paid to their chances.

All of which took the pressure off leaders Lyon, but they too kept everyone in it with a draw at St Etienne. Again, Les Verts failed to hold onto a lead after Kevin Mirallas's opener. Karim Benzema had forced Jeremie Janot to produce his best in the St Etienne goal before Juninho - inevitably with a free-kick - levelled matters. Lyon had to play out the last half hour with ten men with Frederic Piquionne picking up two yellows, but Lyon held out as St Etienne dominated possession without doing much with it.

The big winners of the weekend with everyone else failing to win were PSG, 2-0 winners over troubled Caen. Guillaume Hoarau had all the best chances, but it took him until the early moments of the second half to finally find the target, tucking home the rebound after Jeremy Clément's free-kick was pushed into his path by Vincent Plante. Pegguy Luyindula doubled the lead ten minutes later, Plante pushing Hoarau's shot invitingly into his path. Caen rarely threatened, but Mickaël Landreau did everything that was asked of him to keep them out. PSG move up to third. Caen are on the slide.

Valenciennes's good recent run continued with a much-needed victory at home to Nice. Their bog recent signing Jean-Claude Darcheville has settled quickly into life at Valenciennes and he tormented the Nice defence for most of the afternoon. His cross for strike partner Grégory Pujol was smashed home on the volley to secure the points. Valenciennes are moving in the right direction, now just two points from safety with a game in hand. Le Havre remain rooted to the foot of the table and went down 3-2 to Nancy. Le Havre thought they'd snatched a point with an equaliser in stoppage time - Amadou Alassane's second of the match - but Landry N'Guemo went up the other end to bang in a third for the visitors and take all three points. Alassane's first was responded to after just four minutes by Julien Féret and Jonathan Brison's second half goal put Nancy ahead. Back came Le Havre, only to be denied at the last.

Monaco eased their woes and put Grenoble into trouble with a 1-0 win in the Principality. Grenoble bossed the game for long periods, but a lack of a cutting edge was cruelly exposed by Alexandre Licata's goal in the second half after which Grenoble wilted. This is their third loss in four and they've not won since October. That's relegation form. Auxerre got a point in a 0-0 draw with Lorient, who lose ground in the race for European football next season. Unlike the Rennes-Toulouse game, this was an end-to-end encounter with chances galore. None were taken, but Lorient probably should have snatched it at the death when Hamed Namoucho dallied, allowing Benoit Pedretti to get back to him and put in a blinding tackle to rescue the situation. Finally, Nantes moved ahead of Le Mans after beating them 2-0. Nantes dominated throughout and second half goals from Yoann Poulard and Freddie Da Rocha sealed the points.