Seventh straight win takes Auxerre top

AJ Auxerre made the most of slip ups from FC Girondins de Bordeaux and Olympique Lyonnais to go top of Ligue 1 on Saturday following a 2-0 win at home to AS Monaco FC.

Winning run
After seeing the top two drop points earlier in the day, the Burgundy side made the most of their chance to steal a march on their rivals thanks to goals at the end of each half from Adama Coulibaly and Delvin Ndinga. It was their seventh successive victory in Ligue 1 and is the latest chapter in a remarkable turnaround for a side that lost their opening three league games and had won just one of their first six.

Bordeaux beaten
Auxerre lead the league by one point from Bordeaux who had been surprisingly beaten for the first time in 40 Ligue 1 games at the Stade Chaban-Delmas by Valenciennes FC earlier in the day. Mamadou Samassa scored the only goal in the seventh minute to leave Valenciennes in fifth place, above Olympique de Marseille, who beat rivals Paris Saint-Germain FC 1-0 on Friday night, and consign the champions to their fourth league defeat of the season.

Lyon held
Lyon also failed to win, but a 1-1 draw at bottom side Grenoble Foot 38 was at least enough to take them level on 25 points with Bordeaux. César Delgado's 66th-minute strike looked likely to pave the way for victory, especially after Laurent Courtois had been dismissed on 72 minutes, but 60 seconds later substitute Daniel Ljuboja hit back for Grenoble to collect just their second point of the campaign and their first at home. Elsewhere, RC Lens defeated AS Nancy-Lorraine 2-1 and Stade Rennais FC beat second-bottom Le Mans UC 72 by the same score.