Paris St Germain moved to the top of the Ligue 1 table - for 24 hours at least - after scraping past Reims at the Parc des Princes.
PSG go top but champions Montpellier continue to struggle
Paris St Germain moved to the top of the Ligue 1 table - for 24 hours at least - after scraping past Reims at the Parc des Princes.
The big-spending Parisians were far from their best and had fortune on their side with Reims' Diego seeing a first-half penalty superbly saved by the hosts' Salvatore Sirigu.
PSG rode their luck and grabbed the winner when Maxwell crossed for Kevin Gameiro to nod in at the far post.
Carlo Ancelotti's side edged ahead of arch-rivals Marseille on goal difference at the summit although OM can re-establish their three-point advantage when they go to Troyes tomorrow.
Toulouse moved up to third after Emmanuel Riviere's brace inflicted more misery on struggling
Evian in a 4-0 beating.
The hosts are suffering from 'second season syndrome' after a strong showing in the top flight last term following promotion.
And they were second best once again as Toulouse ran riot thanks to some clinical finishing, Riviere's strikes being sandwiched by efforts from Franck Tabanou and Daniel Braaten.
Lorient endured a night to forget as
Valenciennes took advantage of two red cards with a late flurry of goals to win 6-1.
The visitors actually took an early lead through Benjamin Corgnet but were 2-1 down before Arnaud Le Lan's 18th-minute dismissal, Carlos Sanchez and Anthony Le Tallec doing the damage.
Gael Danic's penalty and a second Lorient red card - Innocent Emeghara failing to live up to his name - put the result beyond any serious doubt and two goals in the final 10 minutes from Vincent Aboubakar, plus another for Le Tallec, inflicted maximum punishment on Christian Gourcuff's side.
Unbelievable
Reigning champions
Montpellier continued their scarcely believable start to the season as a 2-1 defeat at
Rennes left them with only eight points from nine games.
Jean Makoun's 12th-minute header and Mevlut Erding's goal early in the second half set Rennes on their way to victory.
Younes Belhanda pulled a goal back from the penalty spot but it was not enough to save Montpellier from their fifth defeat of the campaign.
Nice were left rueing a late missed penalty as their match against
St Etienne finished 1-1 at the Stade Municipal du Ray.
Eric Bautheac gave Nice a 28th-minute lead, which was cancelled out by Brandao's goal 14 minutes from time.
Ten-man
Nancy ended their abysmal run of form but were pegged back by Sebastien Roudet's second-half strike in their 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers
Sochaux.
Jean Fernandez's side had lost their last six matches but made an ideal start with Sebastien Puygrenier opening the scoring with the first chance of the match in the 13th minute.
Yet Sochaux dominated thereafter and Roudet's leveller 10 minutes after the interval was richly deserved before Djamel Bakar was dismissed on the hour mark for a rash lunge on Ryad Boudebouz.
