Lyon show their class
Lyon ruthlessly exposed Bordeaux's lack of title quality in a clinical 3-1 victory at their main rivals on Sunday.
After Lyon had a stuttering start to the season, Bordeaux looked likely to pose the main obstacle to a seventh straight title for Alain Perrin's men.
But this comprehensive victory has left Lyon looking just as formidable as in their previous six seasons of domination, despite their woeful Champions League form - two matches played, two 3-0 defeats suffered.
Lyon now head the table from surprise-package Nancy, who won 3-1 at Monaco on Friday night, on goal difference with Le Mans, 2-0 home winners over Nice on Saturday, in third and Bordeaux fourth and four points off the pace.
Lyon won thanks largely to the fine form of veteran Brazilian playmaker Juninho and young France forward Karim Benzema. Juninho created the opening goal for his countryman Cleber to head home from a free-kick on five minutes.
On 23 minutes Hatem Ben Arfa released Benzema with a long ball and the striker pounced to score his 10th goal of an increasingly impressive season.
Juninho set up another goal from a dead ball for Swede Kim Kallstrom to transform on the hour before another Brazilian Jussie reduced the deficit seven minutes from time.
It all proved that Laurent Blanc's team have a long way to go if they are to hope to eventually run Lyon close when the silverware is handed out at the end of the season.
In Sunday's other match, a goal from Achille Emana gave Toulouse a 1-0 victory at second from bottom Sochaux.
On Saturday Marseille came thudding back down to earth with a bump as St Etienne quickly made them forget their midweek Champions League heroics in a 1-0 defeat.
Marseille came into their game on a high after a stunning 1-0 victory at last season's Champions League finalists Liverpool, which left the French Riviera side top of their qualifying group with a perfect six points from two games.
Their league form has been markedly different, though, and this was a case of back to reality for Eric Gerets's men, who found themselves in the relegation zone at full-time.
"After the good match against Liverpool I was sure the team was developing confidence," said a bemused Gerets. "Many players were off their game and we gave away a lot of balls."
The match seemed to be heading to dull 0-0 stalemate until Geoffrey Dernis popped up three minutes into stoppage time to crash a rasping drive in off the underside of the bar from 25 yards.
The defeat means that the former giants of French football have just one win this season from their 10 matches, and that a 2-1 success over lowly Caen.
Paul Le Guen's tenure as Paris St Germain's coach looks under threat after their home woes continued with a disastrous 3-1 defeat to Rennes at the Parc des Princes.
Le Guen's men have now lost three and drawn three of their six home matches this season and PSG president Alain Cayzac admitted he is running out of patience.
"I didn't say the situation was extremely serious, but it is serious," he said. "It's true that I advocated time and assured that the club should look to the medium term, but it's out of the question that we can continue to be this disappointing."
Rennes opened the scoring on 19 minutes through former PSG midfielder Jerome Leroy but Brazilian Ceara equalised for the hosts on 57 minutes.
Any hopes of pushing on from there were ended, though, by goals from Jimmy Briand and Sylvain Wiltord in the final 17 minutes.
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