Saturday’s Games
Arles 0-3 Marseille
Arles’ miserable Ligue 1 debut continued with a three-nil home defeat to Marseille who finally got a good result following a lethargic start to their own season. Seasoned veteran Benoit Cheyrou opened the scoring for Les Marseillais just after the half-hour before André Ayew, one of the two sons of former Marseille star, Abedi Pele, now plying their trades at the club, netted a brace with a goal about ten minutes on either side of the halftime whistle.
Lorient 0-1 Caen
Youssef El Arabi scored the only goal just prior to halftime to give visiting Caen a win over their Breton counterparts. Promoted from Ligue 2 last season, Caen currently find themselves in fourth place following the win.
Monaco 0-0 Toulouse
Toulouse and Monaco played to a goalless draw in the principality on Saturday and Toulouse relinquished the top spot in Ligue 1 on goal difference. TFC is level on points with Saint-Étienne now but the Loire side goes top following their big win (see below). Monaco is unbeaten through six games but only have one win during that stretch.
Nancy 0-2 Brest
Brest ran their unbeaten streak to three with a good away win over Lorraine side, Nancy. Substitute Tomas Micola opened the scoring in the 70th minute before Larsen Toure scored at full time to secure the three points for the visitors.
Saint-Étienne 3-0 Montpellier
Les Verts’ winger Dimitri Payet had an outstanding game for the Loire valley side and led ASSE to a three-nil pounding of Montpellier. Payet had two goals sandwiched around a well-taken Emmanuel Rivière goal in this one and was a menace to Montpellier’s backline all afternoon long and has six goals in six matches. If the Réunion-born winger cum striker continues this kind of early season form he’ll soon be hearing, “Mr. Payet, call for you from Laurent Blanc, on line 2.”
Sochaux 4-0 Nice
Sochaux got four goals from four players to put last week’s defeat to (team) behind them. Nigerian striker, Ideye Brown, scored just before halftime to give the hosts the lead. Ryad Boudebouz scored in the 66th minute as the home side went into cruise control before Marvin Martin and Modibo Maïga tallied insurance goals in an emphatic win for Sochaux.
Valenciennes 1-1 Lens
The visitors from Lens seized a point in Valenciennes with a late equalizing goal from Razak Boukhari in injury time after Mamadou Samassa had originally put Valenciennes in front in the 55th minute but the home side couldn’t hold off Lens and both teams shared the spoils.
Sunday’s Games
Bordeaux 2-0 Lyon
Lyon’s fairly shocking poor form continued in Bordeaux on Sunday as Les Girondins punished the Les Gones with a 2-0 win. Former Bordeaux & Milan midfielder, Yoann Gourcuff, was roundly booed throughout the match following his move from Bordeaux this summer. Following a goalless first half, Bordeaux begin to force the issue and boss the match and broke the deadlock on the hour mark when Alou Diarra headed home from a free kick. Brazilian midfielder, Jussie, then bagged a goal two minutes into stoppage time to condemn Lyon to 17th place in the table (and one spot above the relegation zone!)
Lille 1-0 Auxerre
Moussa Sow scored a late winner for Lille when he slotted home following a flick on by Ivorian winger, Gervinho, from a good cross by Belgian starlet, Eden Hazard. Auxerre now lies, a bit surprisingly, in second to last position in the standings with only hapless Arles underneath them.
PSG 0-0 Rennes
Visiting side Rennes dropped a chance to move top of the league following their goalless draw in the capital on Sunday evening. Both sides had several chances to score but no one made them count for either side and both clubs were resigned to having to take a point from the match.