Ligue 1 wrap: Lille top as chasing pack falter

Paris St Germain, Rennes and Lyon all missed chances to lead Ligue 1 heading into the Christmas break on Wednesday.

That leaves Lille to top French football before a three-week winter hiatus for the first time since 1949, despite being held to a 1-1 draw with St Etienne at home.

Senegal striker Moussa Sow’s goal looked to have won the three points for the hosts but Bakary Sako smashed home a penalty with 14 minutes remaining to ensure proceedings finished level.

The trio of chasing clubs all failed to take advantage of Lille’s draw as PSG lost 2-0 to Nancy, Rennes went down 1-0 to Caen and Lyon drew 1-1 with Auxerre.

A second-half double from Moroccan striker Youssouf Hadji kept Nancy’s unbeaten run of five matches alive and saw them move further away from the relegation zone.

Rennes remain third despite their defeat at struggling relegation candidates Caen.

Romain Hamouma’s ninth-minute goal snapped a 12-match winless streak in all competitions for the newly promoted side and put a serious dent in what has been a superb first half of the season for Rennes.

Lyon joined the others in missing a chance to go top with a home draw against Auxerre.

Jean Mignot’s 45th-minute own goal looked to have given Lyon the initiative but Julien Quercia’s second-half strike ensured both sides would share the spoils.

In other matches, Chu-Young Park’s injury-time winner gave Monaco a 2-1 victory over Sochaux while Valenciennes won by the same scoreline against Toulouse, thanks to goals from Brou Angoua and Gael Danic.

Arles and Nice played out a goalless draw while Brest and Marseille also failed to score.

Bordeaux fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with relegation candidates Lens to move up to eighth on the table.