Montpellier are the new leaders of Ligue 1 after three second-half goals brought them a deserved victory over lowly Ajaccio on Saturday.

With Paris Saint-Germain not in action until Sunday, Montpellier had the opportunity to leapfrog the capital aristocrats and seized it.

Their goals came from Younes Belhanda, who opened the scoring with a 53rd-minute penalty, Remy Cabella, who doubled the lead 11 minutes later, and top scorer Olivier Giroud, who netted in the 67th minute.

Montpellier have now won seven competitive matches in succession without conceding, and they head PSG on goal difference. PSG play Nice.

Lyon are now a distant 10 points behind the top two, with their title hopes increasingly faint following a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Caen, who completed a league double over Les Gones.

Goals from Romain Hamouma and Livio Nabab in either half secured the upset win despite Lisandro Lopez's late penalty for Lyon.

Caen won the reverse fixture 1-0 in September but had won just twice in the league since, however this latest success sees them climb three points clear of the bottom three.

Rennes nudged up a place to fifth, as Mevlut Erding's goal subjected his former club Sochaux to a 1-0 defeat.

The Turkish striker, a product of Sochaux's youth academy, headed home in the 15th minute to keep Rennes in touch with the European hopefuls and leave Ligue 1's bottom club winless in nine matches.

Brest drew 1-1 at home against Dijon, snatching a late equaliser with 10 men against the strugglers.

The visitors had the better of a goalless first half but had to wait until the 75th minute to take the lead through Gael Kakuta.

Brest then had Issam Jemaa sent off with a minute remaining but still managed to salvage a point when Santiago Gentiletti headed home in stoppage time.

Auxerre missed the chance to move out of the Ligue 1 relegation zone as they conceded an injury-time equaliser to draw 1-1 at home to 10-man Lorient.

Innocent Emeghara levelled for the visitors at the death to cancel out Willy Boly's 18th-minute opener.

Lorient had been a man down since midway through the first half when goalkeeper Fabien Audard was sent off for handling the ball outside his penalty area as Ben Sahar raced through on goal.

Mamadou Samassa scrambled home a deserved winner for Valenciennes in time added on at the end of a match to clinch a 1-0 win against Nancy.