Ligue 1 wrap: Lille in chase, but leaders hold strong

Ligue 1 leaders Montpellier scored a 4-0 win over Lorient on Saturday, but champions Lille stayed in touch with a late winner against AC Ajaccio.

Montpellier led 1-0 at the break at the Stade de la Mosson, courtesy of a Geoffrey Dernis goal just before the half-hour mark.

They threw the shackles off in the second period, however, with strikes from Olivier Giroud, John Utaka and Remy Cabella powering them to a comfortable win.

Lille were forced to work much harder for the three points at Ajaccio, going a goal down after just two minutes when a Christian Kinkela free-kick took a deflection off Aurelien Chedjou and flew past Mickael Landreau in the Lille goal.

The visitors struck back through goals from Ludovic Obraniak and Marko Basa to take a 2-1 lead, but Ajaccio levelled thanks to Ilan Araujo Dall’Igna eight minutes before the interval.

With time ticking away, it was left to substitute Eden Hazard to secure all three points for Lille with 10 minutes remaining, slotting home a penalty after Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi fouled Florent Balmont.

Montpellier hold a five-point lead over second-placed Lille, but Paris Saint-Germain can move into second and close the gap to three points should they win their home clash with Auxerre on Sunday.

Stade Rennes blew the chance to leapfrog PSG into third place when they suffered a 2-0 defeat at Nice, with Fabian Monzon and Renato Civelli scoring the goals.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Brest’s Nolan Roux and St Etienne’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang each scored a brace as the sides drew 2-2.

Valenciennes have only goal difference keeping them out of the relegation zone after they slumped to a 2-1 loss at Evian, while Dijon and Sochaux played out a goalless draw.