The China Mail - Marseille continue fine form and compound Clermont's woes

Gennaro Gattuso's men seemed to have the points sewn up against bottom-side Clermont, until a Jim Allevinah goal halved the deficit but with over 40 minutes remaining they held out for their fourth successive league win.

Four minutes before the half-hour mark, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang found Murillo in the box and the defender controlled and rifled home a fine right-footed half-volley.

The home side then doubled their lead in the 42nd minute, when Aubameyang set up Iliman Ndiaye and his shot was saved but fell to Harit who finished unerringly from the left.

Marseille continued to cruise until 13 minutes after the break.

Allevinah nodded in from a corner to give Clermont a glimmer of hope, however the goal proved only to be a consolation as the hosts saw out the match comfortably.

Earlier, a similar scenario played out in Brittany as 17th-placed Lorient went down 2-1 to Strasbourg, despite an early second-half goal from Bamba Dieng halving the deficit after first-half strikes by Dilane Bakwa and Kevin Gameiro.

Toulouse went a point above Lyon, who sit in the relegation play-off spot, with a goalless home draw against Rennes, while a ninth-minute Maxime Esteve strike gave Montpellier some breathing space with a 1-0 win at Metz.

Brest jumped into fourth place with a 2-0 win at Nantes, courtesy of Hugo Magnetti and Steve Mounie in the second period.

Lille can reclaim the last Champions League spot later, but to do so must overcome table-topping Paris Saint-Germain in the weekend's most eye-catching clash.

G.Tsang--ThChM