Pierre Sage's team have surprisingly been Paris Saint-Germain's closest challengers in France this season but they were swept aside by an in-form Lille. Hakan Haraldsson turned in Matias Fernandez-Pardo's clever pass just before half-time at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Felix Correia pounced on a stray back-pass from Matthieu Udol to score a second for Lille five minutes after the break. Fernandez-Pardo sealed a fifth win in six games for Lille from the penalty spot after a handball by Ismaelo Ganiou.

Lille climbed up two places to third after extending their unbeaten run to eight matches, with Lens still four points behind PSG and having played a game more than the league leaders, who brushed past Toulouse 3-1 on Friday.

Strasbourg beat Nice 3-1 despite losing Argentina striker Joaquin Panichelli, the league's joint leading goalscorer, to a long-term knee injury suffered while on international duty last week. Martial Godo, Julio Enciso and Samir El Mourabet all struck in the first half for Strasbourg before Antoine Mendy bagged a late consolation for Nice.

Esteban Lepaul joined Panichelli on 16 goals for the season as he converted a pair of penalties to lift Rennes to a 4-3 win at Brest. Swiss forward Breel Embolo also scored as Rennes moved up to sixth after inflicting a third straight loss on mid-table Brest.

Félix Correia

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