The Fort Worth Press - Lens run riot to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1, Marseille slip up

A third consecutive league victory, coupled with Paris Saint-Germain slipping up 3-1 at Rennes on Friday, sent Pierre Sage's side one point clear of the champions.

Braces by Said and Rayan Fofana, either side of a Florian Thauvin penalty, moved Lens to 52 points, while struggling PFC remain in 15th place, eight points above the relegation zone.

The visitors tore out of the blocks at Stade Jean-Bouin as Said hit the post and Florian Thauvin had a goal disallowed for offside inside the opening quarter-hour.

But they were not to be contained for long as Odsonne Edouard teed up Said to open the scoring in the 24th minute.

Edouard was then denied by the flag minutes later, before Said doubled Lens' advantage seven minutes before the break when he capped off a fine team move with a flashing finish into the top corner.

2018 World Cup winner Thauvin made the points safe just shy of the hour as he slammed home from the spot after Otavio had fouled Saud Abdulhamid.

Fofana and Allan Saint-Maximin, on in place of Edouard and Said, continued the tormenting of PFC as they combined to add two goals in stoppage time.

- 'Struggling a lot' -

Marseille began life after Roberto De Zerbi with a 2-2 home draw with Strasbourg despite leading by two goals late into the second period.

The Italian coach left the south coast club earlier in the week following last Sunday's 5-0 thrashing to fierce rivals PSG.

Goals from Mason Greenwood and Amine Gouiri seemed to be enough to give interim boss Jacques Abardonado a vital three points.

But Sebastian Nanasi's second-half strike set up a nervy finale at the Stade Velodrome before Joaquin Panichelli converted a penalty deep into injury time.

The late collapse condemned Marseille to remaining in fourth place, 11 points off the pace.

"It's becoming a recurring theme. It's the same scenario as against Paris FC, where we were already leading 2-0 and then conceded a penalty in added time," Abardonado said.

"The team is maybe not sick, but it is struggling a lot. When it happens again and again like this, it's difficult."

The draw kept Gary O'Neil's Strasbourg seventh in the table on 31 points.

With large swathes of the stands empty as protesting Marseille fans waited until the 15th minute to come in, the hosts took the lead in a subdued atmosphere when Greenwood outpaced Andrew Omobamidele and dinked home.

Strasbourg dominated the remainder of the half but failed to break down Marseille.

Abardonado's charges punished the visitors two minutes after half-time as Gouiri fired his fifth goal of the league campaign.

The away side continued to see the most of the ball, but as they failed to make a breakthrough O'Neil made changes.

Nanasi came on just after the hour and netted in the 73rd minute after good wide play by Martial Godo.

Marseille looked set to see out the win until Emerson Palmieri caught subsitute Gessime Yassine while trying to clear the ball and the referee pointed to the spot deep into stoppage time.

Panichelli stepped up and dispatched the resulting spot-kick in the 97th minute to ensure the spoils were shared at the Velodrome.

Lille climbed to fifth in the table, six points behind Marseille, with a 1-1 home draw against Brest thanks to Gaetan Perrin's 71st-minute leveller for the hosts after Remy Labeau-Lascary had given the Breton side the lead earlier in the second half.

H.M.Hernandez--TFWP