Another pulsating round of Ligue 1 matches has come to an end, with plenty of talking points and exciting action. Paris Saint-Germain returned to winning ways, Rudi Garcia suffered a first loss as Lyon manager, Monaco notched a fourth straight home win while Strasbourg won the crucial relegation clash with Nimes thanks to a Lebo Mothiba brace.
Lebo Mothiba Brace Helps Strasbourg Past Nimes
Strasbourg Beat Nimes in Relegation Clash
Strasbourg collected back to back home wins as they thrashed Nimes 4-1 in a crucial clash at the bottom of the table. South African international Lebo Mothiba scored his first goals of the season to secure a massive win.
Nimes just cannot get their season going and, as a result, find themselves on the longest winless run in Ligue 1. The basement side in are winless in six games and overall have won just twice in 13 games.
Strasbourg went two goals ahead in the first half thanks to Ludovic Ajorque and Mothiba’s first of the game. Romain Philippoteaux got one back just three minutes into the second half, but any hope of a comeback was extinguished in the space of four minutes. Florian Miguel was sent off and then Dimitri Lienard secured the win with a third goal for Strasbourg. The home side added further gloss when Mothiba scored a second goal.
Nimes remain rooted to the bottom of Ligue 1, while Strasbourg climb to 16th and open a three-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone.
Rudi Garcia Suffers First Loss With Lyon
Rudi Garcia’s first return to Marseille since being sacked ended in defeat as the hosts notched back to back league wins. Dimitri Payet’s first-half brace was enough to secure Andre Villas-Boas’ side all three points.
It is a first league loss for Garcia since taking over Lyon in October. Despite playing against ten men for the final 25 minutes, Lyon couldn’t find an equaliser. As a result, they find themselves five points off the Champions League places.
Payet converted a penalty after Thiago Mendes handled in the area. The exciting attacker soon had a second after latching onto Maxime Lopez’s pass. Moussa Dembele pulled one back on the hour mark, but despite a straight red for centre half Alvaro Gonzalez, Marseille held out for back to back league wins for the first time since the start of September.
Marseille climb into second place, eight points behind Paris Saint Germain. Lyon drop to 14th.
How Did We Do?
Each week at Last Word on Football, we attempt to predict the results of each match offering stats and viewpoints on each game. Our predictions are in bold on the left with the actual results in italics.
Nice 1-1 Bordeaux – Nice 1-1 Bordeaux
Brest 1-3 Paris Saint-Germain – Brest 1-2 Paris Saint-Germain
Lille 2-0 Metz – Lille 0-0 Metz
Monaco 2-1 Dijon – Monaco 1-0 Dijon
Reims 1-0 Angers – Reims 0-0 Angers
Strasbourg 1-0 Nimes – Strasbourg 4-1 Nimes
Marseille 2-2 Lyon – Marseille 2-1 Lyon
Montpellier 2-1 Toulouse – Montpellier 3-0 Toulouse
Nantes 0-0 Saint Etienne – Nantes 2-3 Saint Etienne
Rennes 2-2 Amiens – Rennes 3-1 Amiens
Up Next
Matchweek 14 begins on Friday 22nd November after the international break. All matches kick-off at 19:00 pm on Saturday 23rd November unless stated.
Paris Saint Germain v Lille – Friday 22nd November, 19:45pm
Lyon v Nice – Saturday 23rd November, 16:30pm
Amiens v Strasbourg
Angers v Nimes
Brest v Nantes
Dijon v Rennes
Metz v Reims
Bordeaux v Monaco – Sunday 24th November, 14:00pm
Saint Etienne v Montpellier – Sunday 24th November, 16:00pm
Toulouse v Marseille – Sunday 24th November, 20:00pm
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