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Three-goal PSG take top spot

SoccerNews in Ligue 1 30 Aug 2009

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Paris St Germain went top of the French first division on Sunday with a 3-0 home win over Lille, but their stay may prove temporary.

Champions Bordeaux can leapfrog PSG later when they tackle Marseille.

PSG have 10 points from four matches picking up their third win of the season thanks to goals from Jeremy Clement in the 26th minute and two late strikes from Peguy Luyindula and substitute Christophe Jallet.

Lyon are second on goal difference after beating Nancy 3-1 on Saturday.

French international and former St Etienne striker Batefembi Gomis fired Lyon into a 37th-minute lead and in-form Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez, having combined with Miralem Pjanic to lay on the opener, clipped home a second five minutes after the restart.

Youssouf Hadji gave Nancy hope when he reduced the arrears six minutes later but a swerving rocket from Manuel Bastos secured Lyon’s third win in four games with 22 minutes left, suggesting they have every intention of landing an eighth title in the past nine seasons after Bordeaux snapped their streak last May.

On the day predecessor Karim Benzema made his first league start for Real Madrid Lopez, already instrumental in taking the French outfit into the Champions League group stage, showed Lyon fans he is perfectly capable of filling the France striker’s boots with his smartly-taken goal.

“We are settling down and getting to know each other well – we have to keep on like this,” said Bastos.

The match between Nice and Montpellier was earlier halted for 20 minutes after visiting fans threw flares onto the pitch from the away end, an AFP reporter at the ground said.

Referee Laurent Duhamel sent the teams to the dressing room on the hour but play resumed some 20 minutes later after police had intervened and detained several fans in the terrace concerned.

Montpellier, who were leading 2-0 at the time, won 3-0 to move provisionally third on eight points, one behind Bordeaux.

St Etienne finally got off the mark at home to modest Grenoble with Christophe Landrin scoring the only goal of the game midway through the first half.

St Etienne coach, former Portsmouth handler Alain Perrin, breathed a barely-concealed sigh of relief.

“Of course this is a welcome win which is handsome reward for the hard work the players put in during the week,” he said.

“We missed a few chances but having conceded six goals in three matches we kept a clean sheet this evening. You have to look at the plus points.”

Elsewhere, promoted Lens continued their solid start, building on two victories for one loss with a 2-2 home draw with Rennes at the Stade Bollaert.

Monaco in contrast lost touch with the top third of the table after a Vaclav Sverkos penalty was sufficient to give Sochaux a 1-0 victory over the principality side.

Auxerre and Boulogne parted goalless in a battle of two strugglers.

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