Ligue 1 matchday 7: Lyon top as five clubs finish level on 14, Lorient end Monaco's unbeaten start

Lyon are top of Ligue 1 on goal difference, one of five clubs on 14 points after a round that took the lead away from Monaco. Monaco lost 1–0 at Lorient on Sunday, their first defeat of the season, so every side in the league has now lost at least once. Paris Saint-Germain came from a goal down to win 3–1 at Strasbourg, Paris FC beat Rennes 4–3 with a penalty in the seventh minute of stoppage time, and Lyon held on against Nice with ten men. Lille, held 1–1 by Brest, complete the group on 14. Nine matches brought 35 goals and five away wins, and seven penalties were scored.

Friday

Le Mans 0–3 Toulouse was goalless at half-time. Jacen Russell-Rowe scored on 46 from Aron Dønnum's pass, and Dønnum made it two on 59. Casper Tengstedt had a goal ruled out by VAR on 78 and scored on 87 from Cristian Casseres. Toulouse had five shots on target to one, and Le Mans are down to sixteenth.

Saturday

Strasbourg 1–3 Paris Saint-Germain turned in the last quarter of an hour. Giovanni Reyna put Strasbourg ahead on 17 from Gessime Yassine's pass, and Ousmane Dembélé missed a penalty on 72 after a VAR check. Ilya Zabarnyi equalised on 77 from Dembélé's pass, Dembélé scored on 85, and Désiré Doue added the third on 90+3 from Ferrán Torres. PSG had 73 per cent of the ball, but Strasbourg had eight shots on target to seven. Luis Enrique rested most of his regular starters between the win at Manchester City and Tuesday's Champions League match with Barcelona, DPA reports, and Dembélé came off the bench.

Lille 1–1 Stade Brestois 29: Mama Baldé scored for Brest on 6 from Gautier Lloris's pass, and Olivier Giroud equalised from the penalty spot on 64. Lille had 67 per cent of the ball and seventeen shots, five on target, to Brest's eight and two.

Estac Troyes 1–3 Lens began with an own goal by Adrien Monfray on 13. Timothee Nkada equalised for Troyes on 26, before Florian Thauvin set up Odsonne Édouard on 45+2 and Ruben Aguilar on 55. Lens won with three shots on target; Troyes have lost five league matches in a row.

Sunday

Angers 2–5 Marseille went the visitors' way after Lillian Rao-Lisoa's opener for Angers on 14. Himad Abdelli equalised on 37 from Timothy Weah's pass and Nouhoum Kamissoko scored on 43 from Emerson Palmieri. Amine Gouiri's penalty on 59 was saved by Anthony Lopes, AFP reports, and he scored from the rebound on 60. Amine El Ouazzani converted a penalty for Angers on 75, then Amine Harit scored on 83 from Tochukwu Nnadi and Igor Paixão on 85 from Weah. Marseille had 21 shots, eight on target; AFP notes they began the weekend above the relegation play-off place only on goal difference, and they are now ninth.

Le Havre 1–3 Auxerre belonged to Danny Namaso, who scored on 40 from Kevin Danois and on 61 from Romain Faivre. Rayan Fofana pulled one back for Le Havre on 66 from Hakim Dongopandji's pass, and Faivre scored the third on 80 from Namaso. Le Havre are still without a win after seven matches.

Lorient 1–0 Monaco was settled by Noah Cadiou's penalty on 61, given, according to AFP, for a foul by the Monaco captain Denis Zakaria on Dembo Sylla. Monaco had fifteen shots but four on target, one more than Lorient. Lorient have now beaten Monaco in their last three league meetings.

Paris FC 4–3 Rennes had four penalties scored. Maxime López scored twice from Lassine Sinayoko's passes, on 14 and 45+4, and Esteban Lepaul equalised each time from the spot, on 29, 74 and 88, a hat-trick of penalties. Sinayoko scored himself on 76, and after a VAR review confirmed a penalty in stoppage time he converted it on 90+7. Franceinfo notes that Sinayoko won that penalty himself, that no Ligue 1 match had seen four penalties scored since Toulon v Nancy in 1992, and that it was Paris FC's first league win over Rennes; the two previous league meetings went to Rennes.

Lyon 2–1 Nice finished with Lyon under pressure. Elye Wahi put Nice ahead on 18 from Jonathan Clauss's cross, his ninth goal against Lyon according to AFP. Pavel Šulc equalised on 32 and Tanner Tessmann scored the winner on 36 from Zachary Athekame's pass. Keito Nakamura was sent off for a serious foul on 70. Axel Witsel hit the bar and Wahi the post, AFP reports, and Wahi had a stoppage-time goal ruled out by VAR on 90+3. Nice had nine corners to one.

The table after matchday 7

#	Team	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Lyon	7	4	2	1	+8	14
2	Paris Saint-Germain	7	4	2	1	+5	14
3	Paris FC	7	4	2	1	+5	14
4	Lille	7	4	2	1	+5	14
5	Monaco	7	4	2	1	+4	14
6	Rennes	7	4	1	2	+1	13
7	Lorient	7	3	2	2	+1	11
8	Lens	7	3	1	3	+3	10
9	Marseille	7	3	0	4	+4	9
10	Stade Brestois 29	7	2	3	2	+3	9
11	Toulouse	7	2	3	2	+1	9
12	Auxerre	7	3	0	4	−6	9
13	Nice	7	2	2	3	−3	8
14	Strasbourg	7	2	1	4	−3	7
15	Angers	7	2	1	4	−6	7
16	Le Mans	7	1	3	3	−5	6
17	Estac Troyes	7	1	1	5	−11	4
18	Le Havre	7	0	2	5	−6	2

Five clubs share first place on 14 points, each with four wins, two draws and one defeat; Lyon lead on goal difference, three better than PSG, Paris FC and Lille, and Rennes are a point behind in sixth. The points race shows Monaco ahead of the other three, or level, after each of the first six matchdays, and PSG, on two points after three rounds, winning four in a row to catch them. At the bottom Le Havre have two points and Troyes four, and Le Mans hold the play-off place on six, a point behind Strasbourg and Angers.

Numbers to know

• Five away wins in nine matches, three home wins and one draw.
• Seven penalties were scored, four of them at Jean Bouin, and two were missed, by Dembélé and Gouiri.
• Lassine Sinayoko had a hand in all four Paris FC goals, scoring two and setting up López for two.
• Marseille's five goals at Angers were the most by any side in the round, and Paris FC v Rennes and Angers v Marseille each produced seven.
• Lyon and Lille have conceded five goals in seven matches, the fewest in the league; Auxerre have conceded seventeen, the most.
• Keito Nakamura's was the round's only red card.

Next up

Matchday 8 opens on Friday 23 October with Brest v Nice at 18:45 UTC. On Saturday 24 October, Toulouse host Troyes at 15:15 UTC and Lens play Paris FC at 18:45 UTC. On Sunday 25 October, Monaco v Lille kicks off at 14:00 UTC, Angers v Lorient, Auxerre v Le Mans, Marseille v Le Havre and Rennes v Strasbourg at 16:15 UTC, and Paris Saint-Germain v Lyon closes the round at 19:45 UTC. The full round is on the Ligue 1 page.

Sources for the context: AFP via France 24, AFP via France 24, AFP via Arab News, DPA via Yahoo Sports, franceinfo.