Timothy Weah and Jonathan David led Lille to victory at Bordeaux while Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco all won to keep things tight at the top of Ligue 1 Uber Eats.
Bordeaux had won three successive games and pushed Lyon hard before meeting Lille, and though the league leaders did not have things all their own way, a 3-0 win — courtesy of second-half goals from Yusuf Yazici, USMNT striker Weah and Canada forward David and some great saves from goalkeeper Mike Maignan — maintained their two-point advantage at the top of the table.
"What made the difference this evening? The squad, for sure, and Mike. Benoît [Costil] didn't have a lot of saves to make and he conceded goals, and Mike had three saves to make, he kept us in the game," said Galtier, who had made five changes to his starting XI from the weekend win over Dijon, and saw David and Luiz Araujo come off the bench to change the game at the Stade Matmut Atlantique.
"It's a squad victory. Those who started the game, those who finished it, and those who, unfortunately, were in the stand and who are also behind the team. It's a great source of satisfaction to see an attitude like that."
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Like Lille, Lyon found Dijon a tough nut to crack, and only Lucas Paqueta's first-half goal prevented them from losing ground. Had they not triumphed in Burgundy, PSG would have passed them into second as the champions swept aside bottom club Nîmes 3-0 at the Parc des Princes to shrug off their shock weekend loss at Lorient.
"I'm happy because after Lorient, it was important to win this game, especially as it comes before the game against Marseille which everyone knows is a really important game for us," said PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino, who saw Angel Di Maria, Pablo Sarabia and Kylian Mbappé all find the net. "It was a solid performance and it was important to win the three points because the team needs to prepare for the derby [with Marseille] with the confidence from a good win."
Monaco made it six wins from six outings in 2021 thanks to a brace from Wissam ben Yedder that gave them a Côte d'Azur derby victory over Nice. "Expectations are very high in Monaco, I'm aware of that," said the principality outfit's coach, Niko Kovac, whose side are fourth, just three points behind PSG. "The teams in front of us have been put together over a number of years and are very strong. They're ahead of us. If we can ambush them at the end of the season, we'll try it."
Rennes held onto fifth, but lost more ground as Quentin Boisgard's late equaliser earned Lorient a 1-1 Breton derby draw, while Metz and Lens in sixth and seventh were also held by Montpellier and Marseille respectively. OM saw new signing Arkadiusz Milik open his top-flight account for them, but they threw away a 2-0 lead in the north of France in their first game since coach Andre Villas-Boas was suspended by the club.
Strasbourg also wasted a two-goal lead as Brest scored twice in the final seven minutes to draw in Alsace, Saint-Etienne and Nantes shared the points with a 1-1 draw while Reims and Angers finished goalless.
>> MATCH REPORTS: Weah, David & Yazici keep Lille top
