The Breton side, who played for 30 minutes with 10 men after Steve Mounie was shown a red card for violent conduct, grabbed the points when former Norwich midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou scored the only goal of the game in the 88th minute.

Marseille have now gone six games without a win and find themselves down in ninth in the midst of yet another crisis. "I think we've hit rock bottom this evening. We're in a whirlwind, a vicious circle," said Marseille coach Gennaro Gattuso.

"There is very little to say this evening, we just have to assume our responsibilities, ask forgiveness from the supporters, ask forgiveness from this jersey because, tonight, what we produced is unacceptable."

Victory lifts Brest above Nice, who lost to Lyon on Friday, Lille and Monaco who missed their own chance to go second when they were beaten 2-1 at home by Toulouse earlier on Sunday.

Toulouse opened the scoring in the 41st minute when skipper Vincent Sierro caught Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Kohn out of position on a free-kick. Monaco levelled just after the restart through Maghnes Akliouche but failed to capitalise on a host of other chances.

Centre-forward Folarin Balogun was the main culprit. The American fluffed an early one-on-one with goalkeeper Guillaume Restes and then squandered another golden opportunity from close range after being set up by Thilo Kehrer.

Toulouse made Monaco pay in the 70th minute when a corner fell for defender Logan Costa to fire in. "We've had too many ups and downs this season," said Monaco coach Adi Hutter whose team have taken just one point from their last four home matches.

"You can analyse things and talk about tactics but we're simply not competitive enough."

February 18, 2024

'Frustrating'

Monaco are now fifth on 38 points, level with Lille, who beat Le Havre 3-0 on Saturday, one point behind Nice and two points behind Brest. Paris Saint-Germain, who beat Nantes 2-0 on Saturday, are clear leaders on 53 points, 13 ahead of Brest.

Rennes, meanwhile, made it six straight wins with a 3-1 victory over bottom-placed Clermont, thanks to a brace from in-form midfielder Martin Terrier and one from Warmed Omari.

It would have been more had Clermont goalie Mory Diaw not kept out Ludovic Blas's 38th minute penalty. Rennes are seventh with 34 points, in touching distance of the European places, and tucked in between Reims and Lens who shared a 1-1 draw.

Clermont remain rooted to the bottom with just 16 points, one fewer than Metz who lost 3-0 at Montpellier. Lorient climbed out of the bottom three with a 3-1 win over Strasbourg. New signing Mohamed Bamba scored twice.

The former Wolfsburg striker also became the first player to score in each of his four first matches since Giora Spiegel achieved the feat in October 1973.

February 18, 2024

P. Lees Melou

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