Lyon risk seeing their lead at the top of France's Ligue 1 cut to one point after Tulio De Melo scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for Le Mans.Les Manceaux squeezed to a 1-0 victory against Les Gones in the Coupe de la Ligue quarter-finals in January and they repeated that exploit again, Brazilian striker De Melo netting the winner for the hosts in the 71st minute for his 11th goal of the campaign.
Lyon hardly threatened all match and they could see second-placed Bordeaux narrow the gap to a point if they win at Monaco on Sunday.
Third-placed Nancy failed to capitalise as they lost 4-0 at St Etienne for whom striker Bafetimbi Gomis netted twice, in the 42nd and 73rd minutes.
Loic Perrin opened the scoring in the 17th minute and Pascal Feindouno got on the scoresheet when he converted a 72nd-minute penalty.
And Nice remain in fourth place after a scoreless draw at Lens.
Basement side Metz picked up their second win of the season by coming from behind to beat Valenciennes 2-1 at home.
Djamel Belmadi put the visitors in front in the 41st minute but Babacar Gueye levelled in the 52nd minute and a Williams Martinez own goal handed Metz the points.
Second-bottom Sochaux collected a point from their meeting with Caen which ended as a 1-1 draw.
Nicolas Maurice-Belay gave hosts Sochaux the lead four minutes before half-time but Yoan Gouffran levelled 10 minutes into the second half.
Both Sochaux and Metz gained ground on Toulouse who were beaten 1-0 at Auxerre thanks to Daniel Niculae's 50t-minute winner.
Patrick Kluivert scored twice as Lille pulled away from the relegation zone with a 3-1 home win over fellow strugglers Rennes.
The former Holland international scored from the penalty spot in the 43rd minute and added a second in the 54th minute before Michel Bastos scored Lille's third two minutes later.
Jerome Leroy netted an 89th-minute consolation for Rennes.
Ulrich Le Pen's goal in first-half stoppage time secured a 1-0 win for Lorient at home to Strasbourg.
Sunday's other game sees Marseille host Paris Saint-Germain.
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