Lyon continued their surge towards Champions League qualification on Sunday as Alexandre Lacazette netted twice in a 5-1 thrashing of Guingamp.
Rachid Ghezzal and Maxwell Cornet were also on target, while a Reynald Lemaitre own-goal secured a handsome victory for Bruno Genesio’s side, with Mevlut Erding getting Guingamp’s reply.
The result allowed OL to build on last weekend’s impressive victory against champions-elect Paris Saint-Germain and made it five wins from their last six league games.
With almost all of their rivals dropping points, Lyon end the weekend in third place and retain hope of catching Monaco, with six points separating them from the principality club in second. “We are going one game at a time. We will see where we are with five games left,” said Genesio.
Lyon are determined to return to the Champions League next season and they are threatening to pull away from the chasing pack thanks to some impressive results at their new stadium. “The players enjoying playing here. There is a good atmosphere,” added the coach.
They had taken 13 points from a possible 15 at the Parc OL since its inauguration in January and they set about improving those statistics early on, Ghezzal opening the scoring with just three minutes played as he followed in to net after Cornet had hit the post.
Erding got a touch to a Younousse Sankhare ball to bring Guingamp briefly back level before Lacazette restored Lyon’s lead and Cornet made it 3-1 10 minutes prior to the interval, racing through to beat Jonas Lossl from an offside position after latching onto Ghezzal’s pass.
Lacazette converted a Ghezzal free-kick for his second and Lyon’s fourth just after the hour mark and Lemaitre headed a corner into his own net late on to complete Guingamp’s misery.
Earlier, Marseille stretched their club record run of games without a league win at home to 12 when they were held 1-1 by Toulouse at the Stade Velodrome.
Toulouse were playing their first game since Pascal Dupraz replaced Dominique Arribage as coach but the new boss was not at the game after being taken ill at training on Saturday and spending the night in hospital.
Dupraz told Canal Plus that reports he had suffered a heart scare were not true and he would have been buoyed by the performance of his relegation-threatened side.
Wissam Ben Yedder put them ahead with his 10th league goal of the campaign, but stuttering OM secured a draw when Steven Fletcher’s shot was deflected in by Brazilian defender Somalia. “We needed to win, one point was useless,” complained Marseille’s Spanish coach Michel.
Marseille remain in the bottom half, while Rennes are fifth, level on points with Nice and just a point behind Lyon, after trouncing local rivals Nantes 4-1 thanks to a superb showing by teenage sensation Ousmane Dembele.
The 18-year-old netted a first-half hat-trick, while Kamil Grosicki was also on target, and Rennes were comfortable winners despite having Giovanni Sio sent off in the second half.
Adryan got a goal back for Nantes as they suffered a first league defeat in 14 games since November. “Dembele gives me pleasure and satisfaction but his situation is also very delicate,” said Rennes coach Rolland Courbis of a player who has drawn admiring glances from around Europe.
“To be just 18 and have all the offers he has in such a short space of time, I would need to be totally inexperienced and incompetent not to be wary,” Courbis added after admitting he had almost left the starlet on the bench at kick-off.
On Saturday, runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for their Champions League trip to Chelsea with a lifeless 0-0 home draw against Montpellier. However, they remain 23 points clear of Monaco at the top after the principality club could only draw 2-2 at Caen on Friday.
If Monaco fail to win at home to Reims next Friday, PSG could secure the title by beating bottom side Troyes away next Sunday.
Otherwise, Laurent Blanc’s side will have the chance to wrap up a fourth straight title when they host Monaco on March 20.