Marseille and PSG keep pressure on Lyon

Olympique de Marseille won 3-0 at lowly AS Saint-Etienne on Sunday to move back to within a point of Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Lyonnais, while Paris Saint-Germain FC ended their recent disappointing spell by beating OGC Nice 2-1, but there was no such luck for Stade Rennais FC, whose European ambitions were hit by a 3-0 loss at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard.

Niang double
Marseille took their time to break through but went ahead on the hour through Mamadou Niang, who converted a penalty after having been pulled back by Kevin Mirallas. Brandão made it 2-0 on 73 minutes when he headed in a cross from Bruno Cheyrou and Niang soon added a third to keep St-Etienne in the relegation zone and move Marseille back on to the shoulders of Lyon, 3-0 winners at Le Mans UC 72 on Saturday.

Hoarau haul
Having suffered two consecutive defeats before the international break, PSG needed to bounce back and got themselves going through Guillaume Hoarau, who nodded in his 16th league effort with 21 minutes gone after Nice goalkeeper David Ospina had parried an initial effort from Ludovic Giuly. Their lead lasted only 15 minutes, as a soft back-pass from Péguy Luyindula allowed Loïc Rémy to level the scores, but the capital outfit were back in front seven minutes after the restart, when Sammy Traoré headed in powerfully from a Stéphane Sessegnon corner to lift PSG to fifth, four points behind Lyon.

Rennes loss
Rennes remain in seventh, meanwhile, after succumbing to a Sochaux team fighting for survival. The one-sided result at the Stade Bonal rocketed Francis Gillot's men up to 14th in the standings, three points clear of the drop zone. Ryad Boudebouz's penalty was added to by Mevlüt Erdinç and substitute Václav Svěrkoš.