Lyon cruised to a 3-0 Ligue 1 victory over Lille at their Stade Gerland on Sunday thanks to a hat-trick from France international striker Alexandre Lacazette.
The beaten visitors however held on to third place ahead of the late clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco at the Parc des Princes.
Marseille beat Caen 2-1 away Saturday and are runaway leaders on 22 points, Bordeaux second on 17, while Lille and Nantes both have 15 and defending champions PSG are on 14.
Lille had to play without eight first choice players and also had their coach Rene Girard sent off for the second time this season.
They have now lost twice and drawn one of their last three league games.
For Lyon, former France player of the year Yoann Gourcuff finally got a place in the starting line-up as his form comes back and he set up the first goal for Lacazette in the 39th minute.
The 23-year-old striker with three France caps took his league tally to seven with another strike just on half-time and his hat-trick put the gloss on a fine days work when he wrapped up victory with six minutes to play.
Saint-Etienne could have climbed to second place above Bordeaux with a home win but lost 1-0 at home to Toulouse thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder’s sixth Ligue 1 goal this season.
Saint Etienne have suffered two defeats and a draw in their last three league outings.
With his fist ever top-flight goal Nantes’ teenager Georges-Kévin Nkoudou grabbed the winner that took the Canaries up to fourth and edged Guingamp 1-0 in the Brittany derby.
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