In-form Olympique Lyonnais were 3-0 home winners against Reims to go provisional second in the table. Karl Toko Ekambi, Bruno Guimaraes and substitute Moussa Dembélé scored the goals as Rudi Garcia's side made it 16 points claimed from the last 18 available.
LYON 3-0 REIMS
THE MATCH
With no European football, OL are fresh every weekend and last season's Champions League semi-finalists were comfortable winners against a Reims side whose hopes were ended when midfielder Moreto Cassama was sent off (33') when they were already trailing 1-0.
Toko Ekambi, back from missing the trip to his former club Angers through suspension, hit the post on a breakout (8') but OL were guilty of allowing Mathieu Cafaro space (11') only for the midfielder to drag his shot wide. OL opened the scoring (22') as Toko Ekambi finished off a glorious team move, racing into the box to volley home a precise Memphis Depay cross from the left.
Tino Kadwere, the scorer of three goals in his previous two club games, then hit the post (31') after a miscued Maxwel Cornet effort came his way. Cassama got his marching orders for a professional foul on home captain Depay after Marshall Munetsi, Kadwere's fellow Zimbabwean international, had given the ball away.
Even a man down, Reims still threatened an equaliser as top scorer Boulaye Dia latched on to a loose Jason Denayer pass and forced a good stop from Anthony Lopes (45+1'), determined to keep a clean sheet on his 350th OL appearance. OL sealed the points four minutes into the second half when Guimaraes scored his first goal for the club (49') with a shot from outside the box that took a big deflection off Munetsi.
Dembélé stepped off the bench to score his first goal of the season (66') with a delightful left-footed clip over Predrag Rajkovic after being picked out by a precise Toko Ekambi pass. In such good form, OL are serving notice that they're contenders to be reckoned with this season.
THE PLAYER: Karl Toko Ekambi
Having not scored since a double against Monaco last month, the Cameroonian international returned from suspension with a bang, scoring one, setting up two and hitting the post. Beyond his statistical impact, Toko Ekambi kept running hard and stretched the Reims defence all match long.
THE STAT: 22
Reims have conceded 22 Ligue 1 Uber Eats goals this season in 12 matches, already one more than they let in in 28 matches as they had the best defence in the league in the truncated 2019-2020 campaign.
