Olympique de Marseille 1-0 Toulouse FC

THE MATCH

Paris Saint-Germain's closest pursuers since Round 13 this season, Marseille began the day some 33 points off than their basement-dwelling visitors, and yet it was Toulouse who made the brighter start. Aaron Leya Iseka should have made it 1-0 to the visitors with the first attack of the game, but after getting around Steve Mandanda he could only find the post (1'). Mandanda then had to pull off a smart reaction save to deny Quentin Boisgard, who had been played in by Jean-Victor Makengo (5'). Denis Zanko's men even had the ball in the net midway through the half, but Makango's goal was ruled out with the ball having gone out of play in the build-up (26'). Marseille settled into their rhythm towards the end of the half, Valère Germain having a penalty claim waved away (39') before Nemanja Radonjic forced a save from Baptiste Reynet - less than 10 minutes after the TFC goalkeeper had replaced the injured Lovre Kalinic - on the stroke of half-time (45').

Marseille make sure

Zanko's opposite André Villas-Boas evidently found the right words the interval with his side looking utterly assured after the restart. Alvaro Gonzalez nearly curled home a stunning first goal for Marseille (47') before Payet bagged his eighth of the season, picking up on Bouna Sarr's pass and taking advantage of the out-of-position Reynet for 1-0 (51'). Maxime Lopez volleyed a Payet corner into a crowd of defenders (60') before Duje Caleta-Car came close, meeting a Payet free-kick before seeing his header deflected wide of the far post (71'). Toulouse might have snatched a share of the points back 10 minutes from time when Leya Iseka met Steven Moreira's cross from the right, but Mandanda was well placed to push his effort out for a corner (80'). Payet steered a late effort just past the post at the other end (86') and it ended 1-0.

THE PLAYER: Dimitri Payet

Villas Boas recently described Payet as being as important to Marseille as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo are to Barcelona and Juventus. Whilst this was hardly the 32-year-old's best ever performance for OM, his coach's praise is understandable. Payet took his goal with aplomb, would have added some assists if his teammates had been more clinical, and his ability to dictate play has helped numb the pain of Florian Thauvin's long-term injury.

THE STAT: 19

Marseille are now undefeated in 19 matches against Toulouse in all competitions. The last time Le Téfécé got the better of Les Phocéens was back in March 2012 when Aymen Abdennour, who later played for Marseille, scored in a 1-0 win for Toulouse at the Vélodrome.

Dijon FCO 3-3 FC Nantes

Dijon and Nantes shared a six-goal thriller at the Stade Gaston Gérard, with the visitors' Andrei Girotto having the final say in injury time after Stephy Mavididi looked to have given the hosts all three points with his last-minute goal.

Mavididi, spending the season on loan with the Les Rouges from Juventus, opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour, rifling the ball beyond Alban Lafont after controlling on the turn. Nantes returned fire five minutes later, though, when Moses Simon brought up his fifth goal of the season. A Julia Tavares strike and Mickaël Alphonse own goal meant it was 2-2 at the break.

Given the swashbuckling first half, the second was surprisingly quiet until Mavididi looked to have sealed all three points for his side when he got on the end of Alphonse's long ball forward and forced home his own fifth goal of the campaign, but Girotto had the final say, heading home Kader Bamba's corner deep into injury time as Les Canaris avoided defeat for the first time in three games.

Amiens SC 1-2 AS Monaco

There was also late drama at the Stade de la Licorne, where AS Monaco's luck was in, Wissam Ben Yedder and Islam Slimani bagging a goal each inside the final 10 minutes to leave Amiens empty handed.

Monaco had kept a clean sheet in each of their previous four meetings with Amiens in all competitions, but Benjamin Lecomte was picking the ball out of his net inside the first 10 minutes after Juan Otero picked up on his poor clearance and squared for Serhou Guirassy, who slammed home his sixth goal of the campaign.

The principality side kept pushing until the final minute, though, and after Ben Yedder had restored parity five minutes from time with his league-leading 16th goal of the season, fit-again Slimani stole all three points when he converted from Cesc Fabregas's corner to give coach Robert Moreno his second consecutive win.

OGC Nice 1-3 Nîmes Olympique

Nîmes Olympique did their survival hopes a world of good, upsetting OGC Nice with a 3-1 win at the Allianz Riviera thanks to goals from Loïck Landre, Romain Philippoteaux and Moussa Koné.

Patrick Vieira's Nice boasted the third-longest undefeated run in the division at kick-off and surged into the lead when Alexis Claude-Maurice finished brilliantly from Myziane Maolida's pass, but it was downhill from there for the hosts. Landre restored parity at the end of the first half before Les Aiglons unravelled in the second.

Hicham Boudaoui was given his marching orders by referee Antony Gautier minutes after the restart for a rash tackle of Philippoteaux and the Nîmes midfielder exacted his revenge on the hosts minutes later, blasting the ball beyond Walter Benitez from the edge. Nîmes' firs away win in six - Nice's home loss in eight - was then complete when Koné capped off the scoring in injury time.

FC Metz 1-2 Girondins de Bordeaux

Girondins de Bordeaux also came from behind to beat FC Metz, their 2-1 win - thanks to goals from Toma Basic and Rémi Oudin - keeping them within touching distance of the European places.

Metz had quietly put together a six-match undefeated run and took the lead early on at their Stade Saint-Symphorien when Ibrahima Niane volleyed home a stunning opener from Vincent Pajot's corner. Pajot was sent off minutes later, though, after a dangerous tackle on Enock Kwateng, and there was an air of inevitability about the visitors' comeback.

It took until the 51st minute for Paulo Sousa's men to find the equaliser against their shorthanded hosts. Toma Basic - enjoying a run in the team now Aurélien Tchouaméni has been sold to Monaco - got on the end of midfield partner Otavio's ball into the Metz box to make it 1-1 and then Oudin made the points safe, opening his account for the club with the winner six minutes from time.

Stade Rennais FC 0-0 Stade Brestois 29

There was nothing to separate Stade Rennais FC and Stade Brestois 29 in their Derby de la Bretagne at Roazhon Park, meanwhile.

Only 150 miles separate Rennes from Brest in the northwest of France, but Les Rouge et Noir began the day in fourth, quite some distance from their visitors, 10 places and 11 points worse off.

Rennes had the better chances in a game in which Steven Nzonzi made his debut, with M'Baye Niang and Flavien Tait looking likeliest to score, but Brest weathered the storm and held on to stretch their unbeaten run at Rennes to six league matches going back to November 2010.