FC Girondins de Bordeaux's position at the top of Ligue 1 is starting to look ever so slightly precarious following a 4-2 defeat at Stade Rennais FC, which allowed unlikely title contenders Montpellier Hérault SC to edge closer to the summit.

Laurent Blanc's faced a tough night after Sylvain Marveaux opened the scoring for Rennes within three minutes, and a Jimmy Briand penalty after 19 minutes further deepened the gloom. It looked like game over when Ismaël Bangoura made it 3-0 just after the interval, but Yoan Gouffran and Wendel struck within five minutes to give the Burgundian side hope before Asamoah Gyan's 77th-minute strike put the game beyond them.

Montpellier moved to within three points of the champions with a 2-0 win at struggling US Boulogne; Souleymane Camara put them ahead with Colombian forward Víctor Montaño putting the result beyond the home side in the final minute. Third-placed LOSC Lille Métropole slipped up, however, drawing 1-1 at OGC Nice as Brazilian Túlio de Melo cancelled out Chaouki Ben Saada's 16th-minute opener for the home side.

Sixth at the start of play, AJ Auxerre fared even worse, going down 5-0 at bottom side Grenoble Foot 38, Nassim Akrour and Daisuke Matsui scoring two goals apiece. Paris Saint-Germain FC fared little better, losing 3-0 at home against FC Lorient, with all of the goals coming in the first half. Elsewhere, RC Lens won 2-1 at home against Le Mans UC 72, while FC Sochaux-Montbéliard drew 1-1 with AS Nancy-Lorraine.