Ligue 1 Review: Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon make Marseille pay for slip-up

alexandrelacazette - CROPPED

Paris Saint-Germain boosted their Ligue 1 title hopes with a 1-0 victory over fourth-placed Saint-Etienne on Sunday.

Defeat for Laurent Blanc's men would have seen them fall seven points behind leaders Lyon, who won 2-0 at Metz earlier in the day, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic found the net from the penalty spot to seal maximum points.

A dull first half saw chances at an absolute premium, but the game opened up after the interval to provide hope that one team might find a winner.

However, it took a handball on the line from Jeremy Clement to provide PSG with a chance to break the deadlock, with Ibrahimovic subsequently making no mistake from 12 yards.

Edinson Cavani sent a delightful chip onto the crossbar 15 minutes from time, and Ibrahimovic was lucky to avoid a red card for a studs-up challenge on Romain Hamouma.

However, PSG held on for a repeat of the 1-0 win they picked up at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in the Coupe de la Ligue earlier this month, moving them level on points with second-placed Marseille, who lost to Nice on Friday.

Lyon had put pressure on PSG to pick up a result with their earlier victory over 10-man Metz.

Struggling Metz had Guido Milan sent off for a challenge on Rachid Ghezzal as the game approached the half-hour mark, before Alexandre Lacazette found the net from the resulting spot-kick.

Lacazette was subsequently forced off with a thigh injury and is now a doubt for Lyon's forthcoming clashes with Monaco and PSG, but Corentin Tolisso popped up seven minutes from time to make sure of the win.

Defeat for Metz saw them slip to the foot of the table on a day of much movement in the lower reaches of Ligue 1.

Caen had not picked up a win in 11 matches in all competitions prior to a 4-1 victory over Reims last weekend, but remarkably won by the same scoreline at Rennes on Sunday.

The results mark the first time Caen have recorded back-to-back league wins since winning promotion at the end of last season.

Caen have now climbed above both Metz and Lens, who picked up a goalless draw at Reims.

Evian leapt out of the bottom three with a 1-0 home win over fellow strugglers Toulouse, who saw Pavle Ninkov sent off and drop below their opponents to 17th.

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