Marseille hit five to close gap on PSG in Ligue 1

PARIS: Marseille closed the gap on leaders Paris Saint-Germain to seven points at the top of Ligue 1 after crushing strugglers Le Havre 5-1 at the Velodrome on Sunday as the season approaches the halfway point.

Valentin Rongier, Bilal Nadir, Neal Maupay, Elye Wahi and Ulisses Garcia scored the goals for Roberto De Zerbi´s team, who also moved three points clear of third-placed Monaco with the victory.

Marseille have won five and drawn one of their last six outings in all competitions, and have scored nine goals in two matches either side of the fortnight-long winter break. Rongier drove in the first from distance on 25 minutes and Nadir fired a low shot into the far corner to make it two, the 21-year-old scoring his first senior goal on just his second Ligue 1 start.

Maupay, who is on loan from Everton in a deal that will become a permanent transfer at the season´s end, headed in Marseille´s third goal before the interval. Nadir, who was starting in the absence of the ill Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, did not reappear for the second half as Marseille added a fourth goal on 66 minutes when Mason Greenwood squared for substitute Wahi to tap in.

Garcia, also on from the bench, completed the scoring for the home side as De Zerbi´s men scored five in a Ligue 1 game for the third time this season. Marseille have won five and drawn one of their last six outings in all competitions, and have scored nine goals in two matches either side of the fortnight-long winter break.

Le Havre, who are in the relegation zone, pulled one back late on when former Marseille player Andre Ayew headed in. PSG beat Monaco 4-2 away in December, just before the winter break, in a fixture that was brought forward because the sides met in the Champions Trophy in Qatar on Sunday.

The Parisians won that game 1-0 to claim the first trophy of the French campaign. Elsewhere on Sunday, Champions League revelations Brest slumped to a 2-0 defeat away at Angers, a result which leaves them 12th in Ligue 1 as the season reaches its midway stage next weekend.

Toulouse were surprise 1-0 winners at Lens thanks to a Zakaria Aboukhlal penalty, while Strasbourg came from behind to beat Auxerre 3-1 in Alsace. Lyon, Nice and Saint-Etienne also won over the weekend.