AFP, PARIS, April 11: Former champions Lyon kept their French league title bid alive Sunday with a 3-0 win at home to struggling Lens as the leading trio Lille, Marseille and Rennes all floundered.
A first half strike from South Korean forward Park Chu Young ensured Lille suffered just their fourth defeat of the season on Saturday as Monaco won 1-0 to move out of the drop zone.
Champions Marseille threw away the chance to pile the pressure on the leaders as they were held 2-2 by Toulouse Sunday as Lyon's win sees them move into third at the expense of Rennes who lost 2-0 at midtable Brest.
Lille have 58 points from 30 games with Marseille three points behind, while Lyon are now third on 53 and Rennes fourth with 51.
"We have the mental ability to go after the title," insisted Lyon midfielder Miralem Pjanic. "We're happy this evening, we did a good job and are on the podium. Everything depends on ourselves now."
Despite labouring to victory the former seven-time champions got back to winning ways after draws against Rennes (1-1) and Nice (2-2).
After a barren first half without the least shot on goal Lyon opened their account after 55 minutes thanks to Lens defender Henri Bedimo.
Jimmy Briand headed in a second six minutes later off a Yoann Gourcuff corner, with Lisandro adding a third in extra time.
Earlier Didier Deschamps' Marseille had a golden opportunity to close the gap on Lille to just one point at their Velodrome stadium.
But despite Loic Remy opening after 30 minutes, the champions were playing catchup after Daniel Braaten levelled just before the break through the legs of goalie Steve Mandanda and Mauro Cetto headed in after 61 minutes.
Andre-Pierre Gignac's goal five minutes from time nevertheless ensured the hosts earned a share of the points.
"Given the context, taking a point after trailing is the lesser evil," said Deschamps.
"It was important for us to win but we made mistakes. We'll settle for this. Few people could have seen Lille losing at Monaco, while everyone saw us beating Toulouse.
"It will be a tough battle to the end. We're still in the running even if we're disappointed at not winning. There are still 24 points to play for."
Lille meanwhile have lost an important tie with a view to claiming their first league title in 53 years.
The leaders were reduced to ten men after 37 minutes when Gervinho was given his marching orders, as their rivals showed a battling spirit which ensured they move out of the relegation zone into 14th place.
But it was a nightmare return from injury for Lille's Adil Rami as his poor back pass to goalkeeper Mickael Landreau allowed Park to score the winning goal after 12 minutes.
In Brittany, Brest opened with a superb first half goal from Nolan Roux under the eyes of Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish, who had come to watch Rennes goalkeeper Nicolas Douchez.
But it wasn't to be Douchez's night as he could find no reply when Roux fired in from 35 metres to opening the score after 29 minutes. Bruno Grougi scored the second after 55 minutes as Brest move up two spots to 11th.
Elsewhere, Paris Saint Germain got back to winning ways with a 2-1 success at Caen as they stay fifth with 49 points with eight games to play.
European hopefuls Saint Etienne were held to a 2-2 draw by struggling Auxerre, while Bordeaux's European hopes took a knock as they were held to a goalless draw at home to tailenders Arles-Avignon.
Midtable Lorient and Sochaux drew 1-1 as did Valenciennes after a last-gasp goal by Marama Vahirua gave visiting Nancy a share of the points.
An own goal from Montpellier's Geoffrey Jourdren ensured they had to share the points in a 1-1 draw against Nice on Sunday.
