Getting away with it: Ligue 1 reviews

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

How on earth have Lyon been getting away with it for so long? Yet again, they present a great opportunity for someone else to take over at the summit and, yet again, the opportunity is spurned. Having been taken to school by Barcelona in midweek, a home game against Auxerre should have been the perfect tonic for Les Gones. Not quite how it panned out. Despite controlling the game, Lyon failed to take their chances with Karim Benzema untypically profligate. Ireneusz Jelen has spearheaded the Auxerre revival and he didn't mess about, putting AJA ahead just before the break. Auxerre could also afford to miss a penalty, Cedric Hengbart seeing Hugo Lloris guess correctly, but Thomas Kahlenberg added the second and decisive goal moments later. That meant that PSG, in the late game, could go past Lyon into top spot by beating Marseille. They failed. After Bolo Zenden had opened the scoring (and then fallen through a box advertising Orange whilst celebrating) and Ludovic Giuly equalised in grand style, PSG crumbled. Zoumana Camara was sent off for tripping Zenden when last man back and PSG paid for his indiscretion. Bakari Koné and Lorik Cana got the goals that saw Marseille win 3-1 and leapfrog PSG into second, a point back from Lyon.

Bordeaux got back on track and move back to fourth, beating Nice 2-1, but had Ulrich Ramé to thank for keeping them ahead. Marouane Chamakh had put Girondins ahead early, only to be pegged back by Nabib Bamogo's penalty. Carlos Henrique restored the advantage early in the second half, but Ramé's fine save from Chakoui Ben Saada's late free-kick ensured the points stayed in Bordeaux. Toulouse slipped up in Monaco, a result that eases any immediate worries in the Principality. The writing appeared to be on the wall when André-Pierre Gignac scored yet another in this prolific season. Frédéric Niami equalised, but Mauro Cetto restored the lead after the break. Seven minutes later, Monaco were back level through Francois Modesto and Igor Lolo snuck a winner after Cedric Carasso could only palm Yohan Mollo's free-kick into the path of the Ivorian.

Le Havre continue to prop up the rest of the league, going down this week to Valenciennes who pull themselves well clear all of a sudden. They needed a late winner from Johan Audel to snatch it though, as Le Havre levelled through Kevin Anan with six minutes remaining. St Etienne drop back into the danger zone, going down to Grenoble who now look relatively safe. Efstathios Tavlaridis was sent off eight minutes from the end for a foul on Nassim Akrour and it was he who punished his indiscretion with a stoppage time winner. Caen are the other side in the bottom three and they lost again, 1-0 at home to Lille who now find themselves back in the title race. Michel Bastos scored again, on the hour for the only goal of the game.

Sochaux are out of the bottom three on goal difference after beating Nancy who are now just one point above trouble. Youssuf Hadji equalised Ryad Boudebouz's opener and Vaclav Sverkos won it twelve from time after Mevlut Erding had missed from the penalty spot. Nancy are also just a point above the danger zone after a home draw with drifting Lorient. Another penalty miss here too, Kavin Gameiro spurning the chance of an equaliser to Guirane N'Daw's opener. The equaliser did come eventually, Jérémy Morel giving Lorient a share of the points. Rennes remain on the fringes of the top half dozen, but could only draw with Le Mans who are by no means safe. They needed a late, late goal from Moussa Sow to get the draw after Thorstein Helstad, on just two minutes, and Gervinho had given Le Mans a two-goal lead. Kembo Ekoko got one back and Sow was johnny-on-the-spot when Yohann Pele failed to deal with Jerome Leroy's cross, presenting Sow with a tap-in into an empty net to break Le Mans' hearts.