Toulouse 0-0 Valenciennes
Lorient 1-2 Sochaux
Nantes 1-1 Caen
Nancy 0-2 Lyon
Grenoble 0-0 PSG
Le Havre 1-2 Auxerre
Nice 0-1 Rennes
St Etienne 1-1 Bordeaux
Marseille 0-0 Le Mans
Lille 2-1 Monaco
How the chasers must be ruing not taking advantage of Lyon's wobbles earlier in the season. After this week's games, they now lie six points clear as they were the only side in the top five to register a win. When they were playing badly, none of the others could string enough of a run together and now Lyon have punished them in the only way they know how. Defender Cris opened the scoring on 19 minutes, heading home unmarked at the near post as a corner was flicked right onto his shiny pate. He really couldn't miss. Youssuf Hadji missed a penalty early in the second half as Lyon maybe relaxed too much, and they were duly made to pay by that man Karim Benzema. With Nancy attacking, two quick touches freed the striker and he finished in style to seal it.
Marseille, PSG, Toulouse and Bordeaux could all only manage draws, allowing Lyon to pull clear. Marseille were booed from the field after their goalless draw at home to Le Mans, a game they utterly dominated. They're looking poor in front of goal and, despite weight of possession of 3-to-1, they could only manage three shots on target in the 90 minutes, though Bolo Zenden struck a post late on. Not good enough for the exacting Vélodrome crowd. PSG too couldn't find the net up in the mountains in Grenoble and came close only once, early on when front two Ludo Giuly and Guillaume Hoarau combined to set up the former who failed to hit the target. Toulouse were also held to a goalless draw at home to Valeciennes, who secured another point as they inch their way to safety. Short on numbers, this was a good, battling performance from Valenciennes, but without Jean-Claude Darcheville up top, goals were always going to be hard to come by. But they blunted the threat of André-Pierre Gignac and Daniel Braathen effectively to grind out a vital point. They remain ahead of St Etienne and just outside the relegation places after Les Verts also drew with one of the front-runners, Bordeaux. It could have been so much better for them too, as they conceded a late, late goal to Fernando Cavenaghi at the Geoffrey Guichard. Blaise Matuidi put St Etienne ahead just after the break following a first half that Bordeaux dominated. He fired a beauty past Mathieu Valverde but it was a case of them failing to hold onto a lead for the umpteenth time this season, altough it was extremely late on when Marouane Chamakh flicked on a header for Cavenaghi to rescue a point.
Le Havre are now ten points off the pace at the bottom after Auxerre did themselves a big favour in beating them. Thomas Kahlenberg put Auxerre ahead in the first minute, profiting from some slack early defending. Jean-Michel Lesage equalised late in the first half and they gave as good as they got for much of the game, but Auxerre proved more clinical in the final third and a neat passing move ended with Valter Birsa slotting home to seal it. Sochaux pulled themselves within two points of safety with a win over a fast fading Lorient, their first away win of the season. Kevin Gameiro put the home side ahead, but Lorient couldn't find a way through some obdurate defending and Sochaux duly came up with a couple of goals of their own. Czech striker Vaclav Sverkos equalised on 66 minutes and, in the first minute of injury time, they went ahead through Mevlut Erding. A point for Caen arrests their alarming slide. They took a third minute lead when Anthony Deroin, catching Nantes cold. They couldn't hold on though and Nantes levelled it just before the break when Frederic De Rocha's free-kick was turned in by Christian Bekamenga. In the second half, neither side could test the opposing keeper and it duly finished 1-1.
Lille took advantage of all the draws above them to put themselves back in the European picture beating 10-man Monaco 2-1, leaving the Monagasques in bother, just three points above the relegation places. Ludovic Obraniak put Lille ahead on 12 minutes who climbed highest to head home Michel Bastos's cross. A second booking for Aljero Alonso reduced Monaco to ten just after the hour and Lille went 2-0 up on 90 minutes, Stephane Dumont controlled Eden Hazard's cross and fired past Stephane Ruffier to win it, though Adriano Pereira fired in a stoppage time free-kick. Rennes also won to get their faltering campaign back on track, while leaving Nice in something of a no mans land in mid-table. A solitary goal from Olivier Thomert in the second half, Bruno Cheyrout and Jimmy Briand combining to set up the left winger to seal Rennes' third away win of the season.
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