Lille all in control
Despite mixed results, coach Jocelyn Gourvennec had noticed that his team had been playing better in recent weeks. His players proved him right against Lorient.
The technician, in solitary confinement after contracting Covid-19, saw his team bend the match in thirty minutes, thanks to goals from Isaac Lihadji (10th), Moritz Jenz (19th) and Reinildo (30th).
On each action, the Breton goalkeeper Paul Nardi made a big mistake. His nightmare match embodies the bad patch of Hakes, roadblockers, who have not won since September 22.
Losc did not go far from the perfect evening. He only lacked a “clean sheet” (Lille has only two this season in L1), Sambou Soumano having scored in added time (90th + 2). The Northerners go back to eighth place, five points behind third-placed Marseille, before going to Brest on Saturday.
Strasbourg goes on, Troyes breathes
In great shape, Strasbourg chained to Clermont a third consecutive success which propels him to two points of the podium.
Scorer Sunday against Montpellier (3-1), Kevin Gameiro scored again (44th), to concretize the Alsatian domination at the Gabriel-Montpied stadium, where the Auvergnats can no longer do so.
Winners of a single match in the last three months, they have slipped to a worrying 17th place, and have only one point of margin over the roadblocker Lorient.
At the bottom of the table, Troyes achieved the big blow of the evening, winning in Montpellier (1-0) thanks to the goal of Xavier Chavalerin (74th).
The Aubois made the difference in numerical superiority, after the red card received by Téji Savanier (63rd), for a tackle on Oualid El-Hajjam.
This is the first success for coach Bruno Irles, who arrived in early January to revive the team, which had not won since December 1.
Estac, now fifteenth (twenty points), revives before a succession of crucial meetings for the maintenance (Angers, Metz, Troyes).