Second-placed Montpellier travelled to Nancy, both teams threatening early on, but Nancy had a goal disallowed on 42 minutes when the referee did not play advantage after a foul by Hilton on Traoré; he sent the Montpellier defender off but Nancy couldn’t convert the free kick. Thus, both teams were aggrieved at half-time, and things did not improve for Montpellier; Stambouli, taking Hilton’s place, brought Karaboué down on the hour mark and was also sent off. A penalty was awarded, although the foul looked to have been outside the area, which André Luiz converted, Jourdren stopping the shot with his feet but the ball spinning back and in. Giroud rattled the bar from a free-kick in the 83rd minute but Montpellier could do little from open-play with only nine men, and it finished 1-0 to Nancy.
Evian scored early against Auxerre with Barbosa crossing for a close-range finish from Kahlenberg on 8 minutes; the visitors got a second in injury time from Bérigaud as Auxerre pressed for the equaliser and left too much space. They stay in the bottom three, Evian have increased the gap between their tenth place and the pack below them.
Bordeaux looked likely to continue their quiet but determined run when Diabité scored in the 71st after a corner, but Ajaccio showed their mettle, and a lovely strike from Poulard, to level the scores in injury time.
Lorient managed to score (really) twice (really) at home to Brest, after the visitors went ahead early on with a superb strike from Ben Basat. First Ecuele Manga headed in from a corner on 52 minutes, then Monnet-Paquet got the winner in the 87th. Lorient last won in November, and were heading towards the drop-zone, so there will be sighs of relief at the Stade du Moustoir.
Marseille’s early season yips could be back after they lost 1-2 at home to Dijon; Rémy opened the scoring with a penalty in the 11th minute after a handball from Meïte, but the visitors hit back in the 24th, Sankharé scoring after a fast break caused chaos in the box and left four Marseille defenders and Mandanda in a heap on the turf. Dijon then got a penalty late on after Nkoulou pulled at Koné’s shorts and the striker gratefully went to ground, Kakuta with the winning spot-kick. OM are now without a win in seven games, a run which includes losses to all three promoted teams; Bayern are likely to be feeling rather confident right now.
Finally, St Etienne were at home to Lyon in a derby les Verts really needed to win. The pitch cut up badly, Bastos falling over when taking a freekick which kicked up a divot a foot across; this was a bad-tempered match with three yellows apiece, and could have seen more. Lyon’s domination paid off with a fabulous goal from Gomis on the 80th minute; he paid tribute to Abidal in his celebration. The 1-0 win means Lyon go 4th, but either Rennes or Toulouse would leapfrog them with a result from their match-up on Sunday. PSG now have a two-point lead over Montpellier at the top of the table.
