Ligue 1 wrap: PSG stay in touch

Paris Saint-Germain kept their Ligue 1 title hopes alive with a 2-0 home win over Saint-Etienne on Wednesday.

Montpellier, who topped the table by five points with four matches to play, missed a stoppage time penalty in a 2-2 draw at Evian TG on Tuesday.

And PSG took full advantage of their slip-up to move within three points of the league leaders with three fixtures remaining.

Fresh off a 2-1 loss at Lille, Carlo Ancelotti’s side needed to respond against an in-form Saint-Etienne outfit that had won their last three matches.

They did just that, starting well and taking the lead after Sylvain Marchal brought down Jeremy Menez in the penalty area.

The hosts were awarded a spot-kick and Brazilian Nene did the rest, finishing from 12 yards to score his 23rd goal of the season after just 21 minutes.

A long wait was to follow before PSG could kill off the game, with Argentine Javier Pastore bagging the sealer with two minutes to play.

Lille moved a step closer to securing a berth in the playoffs for next season’s UEFA Champions League after a 1-0 win at Nice.

Manchester City transfer target Eden Hazard set up Brazilian Tulio de Melo for the game’s only goal after six minutes.

Lyon put Valenciennes to the sword in the final 25 minutes as they ran out 4-1 winners in their meeting at Stade de Gerland.

Lisandro Lopez’s first-half effort was quickly cancelled out by a Renaud Cohade penalty as both sides entered the break on level terms.

Lyon clicked into gear in the latter stages though as Cris, Lopez and Jimmy Briand all netted in the home win.

In other results, Ludovic Obraniak and Landry N’Guemo struck in the space of seven second-half minutes as Bordeaux defeated Stade Rennes 2-0, Loic Remy’s goal gave Marseille a 1-0 triumph over Nancy and Brest and Toulouse played out a goalless draw.

Ajaccio came from behind to defeat Sochaux 2-1 and Caen produced a 1-0 home win over Lorient.