Saint-Etienne sink Metz, Montpellier win
Saint-Etienne kept up their bid for European football next season and added to relegation fears for Metz with a 3-2 victory in France's Ligue 1 on Saturday.
Saint-Etienne move back within a point of fourth-placed Monaco, who crushed Bastia 3-0 on Friday, thanks to goals from Côte d'Ivoire striker Max-Alain Gradel, Mevlut Erding and Yohan Mollo. The defeat leaves Metz nine points from safety and in danger of returning to Ligue 2 with just nine matches to save their top flight status.
In other matches Saturday, several teams involved in relegation battles took centre stage. At Lens, the 1998 French champions gave themselves a glimmer of hope of staying in Ligue 1 with a vital 1-0 home win over Toulouse. The Northern club remain seven points from safety but a well taken goal from Pablo Chavarria with 13 minutes left at least gave them reason for hope.
Brittany club Lorient also picked up three crucial points to move five points above Toulouse and the final relegation spot with a 2-1 win over Caen. Evian find themselves sucked towards the bottom three after they lost 2-1 at Nantes, meaning they remain three points above Toulouse.
Finally, Montpellier climbed back into European contention with a 3-1 home win over Reims and are now sixth ahead of Bordeaux, only on goal difference, while Les Girondins can retake their advantage with at least a point at home to PSG in the weekend's penultimate match on Sunday.