Struggling Lyon slip to seventh Ligue 1 loss of the season

NICE: Lille inflicted the seventh defeat of the season on Lyon on Sunday, leaving the one-time kings of French football rooted to the bottom of Ligue 1.

An opening goal from Canadian international Jonathan David and a stunning strike from Tiago Santos earned Lille a 2-0 victory at Lyon´s Groupama Stadium. Lyon mounted a limited fightback in the second half but former Arsenal forward Alexandre Lacazette´s lack of cutting edge in front of goal summed up their season so far.

They have just seven points from 12 games and relegation is starting to seem a genuine prospect for the club that won seven consecutive titles between 2001 and 2008. Lille´s three points secured fourth place, a point behind Monaco, who were thumped 5-2 by leaders Paris Saint-Germain in the capital on Friday.

Nice kept an eighth consecutive clean sheet in a 1-0 win over Toulouse on Sunday that keeps the Riviera outfit breathing down the necks of PSG. Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka has not conceded a goal in Ligue 1 for 723 minutes, more than eight games ago and Nice have yet to fall behind in their 13 Ligue 1 matches this term, breaking the record of 12 held since the 1984-85 season by Bordeaux.

However, while they have only conceded a miserly four goals all season, they have only scored 14, which pales by comparison with Kylian Mbappe-fuelled PSG on 34. “Our main strength is our defence,” said Nice coach Francesco Farioli.

“We aren´t interested in statistics, but it´s nice racking up the points,” he said. Striker Terem Moffi scored the only goal of Sunday´s game at Nice´s Allianz Riviera, his fourth goal of the Ligue 1 season coming in the 54th minute with a simple tap-in after being set up by Morgan Sanson.

A week after releasing their coach Bruno Genesio, Brittany outfit Rennes got their campaign back on track with a 3-1 win over Reims. New boss Julien Stephan experimented with a 3-4-3 formation from where Benjamin Bourigeaud scored one and set one up in a much-needed boost after a poor run.

Fellow Brittany club Brest won 3-1 away at Montpellier. Lens extended their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to eight matches on Saturday with a 3-0 victory at Clermont, before turning their attentions to Wednesday´s Champions League game at Arsenal.

Marseille´s winless run stretched to four league matches after a 1-1 draw at Strasbourg. The southern giants fell behind early on as Emanuel Emegha put the home team ahead, although Jonathan Clauss levelled before the half-hour mark. But Gennaro Gattuso´s men could not find a winner and now sit ninth in the table.