Ligue 1 Review: Rennes stun Lyon, Bastia go second

Rennes pulled off the biggest surprise of Saturday’s Ligue 1 fixtures as they won 2-1 at title-hopefuls Lyon, while Bastia and Angers continued their strong starts.

Pedro Henrique gave the visitors an early lead before Nabil Fekir restored parity for Lyon but Mehdi Zeffane came back to haunt his former club by restoring Rennes’ advantage on 55 minutes and they held on for the win.

Mathieu Valbuena, Jordan Ferri and Maxwell Cornet all missed chances for Lyon in a frantic finale.

The home fans made their disapproval clear as they booed last season’s Ligue 1 top-scorer Alexandre Lacazette when he was replaced on the hour-mark. 

That result elevated Rennes to fifth in the table, one place below unbeaten Nantes who secured a 1-0 win over Reims at the Stade de la Beaujoure, courtesy of a second-half strike from Ermir Lenjani.

Bastia were Saturday’s biggest winners, meanwhile, trouncing struggling Guingamp 3-0 to move up to second, with Julian Palmieri and Lassana Coulibaly finding the net to add to an own goal from Maxime Baca.

And surprise packet Angers round out the top three following an impressive 2-0 victory at GFC Ajaccio, a brace from Cheikh N’Doye proving enough to down the Corsican side.

Those wins see Bastia and Angers level on seven points and +4 goal difference, with the former ahead on goals scored, with only defending champions Paris Saint-Germain (9 points) above them in the standings.

Monaco remain unbeaten this season following their 1-1 draw at Toulouse, although they did have to come from behind after Tongo Doumbia gave the hosts the lead after 21 minutes.

Thomas Lemar earned a point for Leonardo Jardim’s men when he came off the bench and fired home a low shot midway through the second half, while in Nice, Caen dropped to sixth after suffering their first loss of the campaign – going down 2-1 to the home team.