A fortnight after Italian Fabio Grosso's arrival as manager Lyon are still looking for their first win. Goals from Marshall Munetsi and Yunis Abdelhamid lifted Reims into third behind high-flying Brest, who held fourth-placed Nice to a goalless draw. Monaco are top following their 3-2 defeat of Marseille on Saturday after fifth-placed champions Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 0-0 draw by struggling Clermont.

Like Clermont, seven-time former champions Lyon have only mustered two points from their first seven outings, with Sunday's reverse deepening the sense of crisis at the club. "I don't know what to tell you, I'm upset, I've been a supporter of Lyon since I was a kid and I've never seen the club in this position," said midfielder Corentin Tolisso.

Up at the other end modest Brest are enjoying their best ever start to a Ligue 1 campaign, with four wins, two draws and only one loss to sit on 14 points, second only on goal difference to Monaco. Brest's manager Eric Roy said: "There's a small regret because we think we can do a bit better than that. But we've got another point, and with 14 it's much more comfortable to go to work during the week."

Their Sunday hosts, Nice, had a difficult build-up to the game with midfielder Alexis Beka Beka declared "safe and sound" by police after being discovered in a "state of distress" on Friday. Beka Beka, who featured for France at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, joined the Ineos-owned Nice in August 2022 from Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia for 12 million euros.

Elsewhere on Sunday Lille beat Le Havre 2-0 and Toulouse downed Metz 3-0. Nigerian forward Akor Adams netted twice as Montpellier won 3-0 away to Lorient. Later Sunday, Rennes ended a run of five successive draws to defeat Nantes 3-1 and move into sixth place, just a point behind PSG.

Benjamin Bourigeaud gave Rennes a sixth-minute lead from the penalty spot but Nantes were level on the stroke of half-time through captain Pedro Chirivella. In a fiery second period, seven yellow cards were handed out before Desire Doue restored Rennes' lead with Arnaud Kalimuendo converting a last-minute penalty for the third goal.

October 2, 2023

Y. Abdelhamid

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