The changing of the guard at the top of Ligue 1 shows no sign of letting up after AJ Auxerre opened up a two-point lead by beating Le Mans UC 72 2-1 thanks to Benoît Pedretti's added-time winner.

With FC Girondins de Bordeaux – leaders going into the weekend – and Montpellier Hérault SC in action on Sunday at home to LOSC Lille Métropole and Valenciennes FC respectively, Jean Fernandez's team almost failed to take advantage against their second-bottom opponents.

Having been given the lead midway through the first half via Ireneusz Jeleń's tenth league goal of the season, they were pegged back in the first minute of added time through Thorstein Helstad, only for Pedretti to immediately restore the lead.

Bordeaux and Montpellier, both on 53 points and with games in hand, must win to leapfrog the Burgundy outfit. Olympique de Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais, four and five points off the pace respectively, meet at Stade Vélodrome in Sunday's other match.

Stade Rennais FC, meanwhile, tightened their grip on seventh courtesy of a 4-1 defeat of Toulouse FC, Asamoah Gyan scoring twice, while AS Monaco FC drew 0-0 at strugglers Grenoble Foot 38, who had Jodi Viviani (79) sent off. Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain FC's inconsistent form continued with a 1-0 loss at OGC Nice, Loïc Rémy scoring the winner late on.

Third-bottom US Boulogne gave themselves hope of survival by defeating FC Lorient 2-0, although AS Saint-Etienne v AS Nancy-Lorraine and RC Lens v FC Sochaux-Montbéliard both finished 0-0.