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. — AFP

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. – AFP