Ben Arfa inspires Nice, Marseille stumble again
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| AFP |
Nice maintained their challenge for a top-three finish in Ligue 1 as Hatem Ben Arfa scored another wonder goal in a 4-1 thrashing of Rennes on Sunday to lift the visitors to fifth.
Former Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon midfielder Mathieu Bodmer opened the scoring in Brittany on 14 minutes for Nice who are now four points behind second-placed Angers with a game in hand.
With the match still in the balance on 53 minutes, former Newcastle winger Ben Arfa continued his sensational start to the season as he wove his way past two defenders before blasting into the far left corner.
Mahamane Traore helped put the finishing touches on a fine day's work for Claude Puel's men when he crashed home the third Nice goal with 15 minutes left before Said Benrahma completed the rout.
The only bright spot for the Brittany side was an 88th minute consolation goal from Kamil Grosicki.
The in-form Ben Arfa now joins Marseille's Michy Batshuayi as the top flight's top scorer on seven goals while Nice are the division's top goal-getters with 24 from nine games.
Earlier in the day, stumbling Marseille dropped points again as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Lorient at the Stade Velodrome.
Michel's side took the lead thanks to a Batshuayi penalty midway through the first half but Benjamin Moukandjo levelled for the visitors before the interval.
Marseille continue to languish in 16th place in the table and are six points adrift of Lorient, with the Bretons lying ninth having lost just one of their last six outings.
OM took the lead in the 22nd minute when Belgian striker Batshuayi converted from the spot after Francois Bellugou had been penalised for handball.
However, the away side were back on level terms eight minutes prior to half-time as Nicolas Nkoulou got caught underneath a high ball and his Cameroon colleague Moukandjo took advantage to score.
"The statistics are in our favour, but the result is against us," said dejected Marseille coach Michel.
"It's like that in every match. It seems incredible because we have an average of 20 shots per game," said the Spaniard.
"Lorient are a good team but in many phases of the game we played better."
Elsewhere on Sunday, Bordeaux were held to a 0-0 draw at home by struggling Montpellier on an emotional day as they mourned the passing of their former France international goalkeeper Dominique Dropsy, who succumbed to leukaemia earlier this month.
On Saturday, Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for their Champions League clash with Real Madrid by beating Bastia 2-0 in Corsica thanks to two second-half goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
PSG are still unbeaten this season and remain five points clear of surprise nearest challengers Angers and Caen, who both won away from home, 2-1 at Toulouse and 1-0 at Reims respectively.
Saint-Etienne are fourth after easing to a 2-0 win at home to bottom side Gazelec Ajaccio with Robert Beric and Kevin Monnet-Paquet both on target.
A late Rafael equaliser earned Lyon a 1-1 draw at Monaco on Friday after the principality club had taken the lead through on-loan Chelsea midfielder Mario Pasalic.
Elsewhere this weekend, Nantes beat struggling Troyes 3-0 and Guingamp held Lille 1-1 in Brittany.