Second-half strikes lift Lyon

By Chris Burke

Olympique Lyonnais overcame their mounting injury concerns to move four points clear in Ligue 1 with a 2-0 win against FC Nantes Atlantique in Saturday's early-evening game in France.

Berthod back
After losing Eric Abidal to a knee injury sustained in Wednesday's bruising French League Cup defeat by LOSC Lille Métropole, Lyon coach Paul Le Guen brought Jérémie Berthod back into the team, with Lamine Diatta standing in for Claudio Caçapa. Nantes duly set about attacking the new-look Lyon defence from the off, Mamadou Bagayoko spurning a good chance for the away side in the first half.

Frau strike
Two minutes after the restart, though, Pierre-Alain Frau pounced on a loose pass from Alexander Viveros and coolly put the champions ahead. Lyon continued to create the better chances and it fell to Sidney Govou to double the advantage on 57 minutes, the Lyon captain beating Mickaël Landreau. His goal secured Lyon's third straight win and took his side up to 32 points, while Nantes dropped to eleventh following the later games.

Auxerre consolidate
Seven points behind Lyon, AJ Auxerre consolidated third place as Yann Lachuer's 29th-minute strike secured a 1-0 victory against AC Ajaccio. There was frustration for fourth-placed FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, however, as they drew 1-1 at home to bottom club FC Istres. Istres even threatened their first win this season before Jérémy Mathieu cancelled out Laurent Courtois's opener with seven minutes left.

Marseille fifth
Olympique de Marseille moved up to fifth place in front of a reduced crowd, as stay-away fans protesting against recent results missed unanswered goals from Habib Bamogo and Koke against RC Strasbourg. Meanwhile, fresh from beating Marseille twice in a week, Paris Saint-Germain FC suffered their heaviest loss this season, 3-0 at FC Girondins de Bordeaux. Stéphane Pichot's early own goal began the scoring before Lilian Laslandes and Cyril Rool struck in the second half.

Hellebuyck double
That was also the margin of victory for AS Saint-Etienne away to SC Bastia. David Hellebuyck scored twice in six minutes and Frédéric Piquionne added the third as Les Verts climbed away from danger with their first away win. They jumped ahead of 16th-placed RC Lens following the latter's 1-1 draw at OGC Nice. José Cobos put the home side in front and John Utaka levelled for Lens, who had Jérôme Leroy sent off.

Caen comeback
Elsewhere, the match between Stade Rennais FC and Toulouse FC also finished 1-1, while two goals from Sébastien Mazure gave SM Caen a 2-1 win against FC Metz. Second-placed Lille can reduce Lyon's four-point gap at the top when they play AS Monaco FC on Sunday.