Lille boosted their title hopes with victory over Caen as third-placed Rennes were held by Auxerre.
Lille march on as Rennes drop points
Lille boosted their title hopes with victory over Caen as third-placed Rennes were held by Auxerre.
Rudi Garcia this week signed a new deal to remain
Lille manager until 2014 and he celebrated with a 3-1 win against
Caen which stretches their lead at the top of the table to seven points.
Aurelien Chedjou opened the scoring for Lille after 29 minutes and Eden Hazard doubled their advantage just after the hour mark.
Moussa Sow added a third, before Youssef El Arabi provided Caen with a late consolation.
With Marseille not in action until Sunday,
Rennes had the opportunity to climb second by beating struggling
Auxerre.
However, the game at Route de Lorient finished in a goalless stalemate, leaving Rennes third and boosting Auxerre's survival hopes.
High-flying
Paris St Germain's clash with
Lorient also ended 0-0, as did the match between mid-table duo
Nancy and
Bordeaux.
Bottom club
Arles look set to be relegated within the next couple of weeks after losing 2-0 at home to
Monaco.
Arles, who have claimed just one league victory all season, made the worst possible start against their fellow strugglers when Gregory Lorenzi was sent off inside the opening 60 seconds.
Benjamin Moukandjo and Park Chu-young then scored to seal Monaco's success and leave Arles a staggering 21 points from safety.
Sochaux left it late to snatch a 2-1 victory at home to
Brest in a clash between two sides that have been out of form in recent weeks.
Ryad Boudebouz's early penalty for Sochaux was cancelled out by a Bruno Grougi spot-kick for Brest, but Ideye Brown grabbed a 90th minute winner.
Souleymane Camara scored the only goal of the game in the day's late kick-off as
Montpellier ended a run of four games without a win by beating
Toulouse 1-0.
