PARIS: Unbeaten Lille moved top of the Ligue 1 standings as they demolished promoted neighbours RC Lens 4-0 at home in the northern derby on Sunday.

Christophe Galtier’s side, who have conceded only two goals this season, prevailed with efforts from Burak Yilmaz, Jonathan Bamba, Jonathan Ikone and Yusuf Yazici with Lens finishing with nine men after Jonathan Gradit and Clement Michelin were sent off after the break.

Lille have 17 points from seven games and lead second-placed Paris St Germain by two points.

Lens, back in the top flight after a five-year spell in Ligue 2, have not beaten Lille since 2006 in all competitions and it never looked like they were going to end a 14-match winless streak against their fierce rivals.

Lille went ahead after 11 minutes when Yilmaz headed home from Benjamin Andre’s cross for his third goal of the season.

Bamba also scored his third goal of the campaign, three minutes into the second half, firing home from point-blank range after Aleksandar Radovanovic failed to clear Zeki Celik’s cross.

Lens went down to 10 men in the 58th minute as Gradit picked up a second yellow card, but the visitors had long lost the plot.

Ikone added a third with a low shot from just inside the box and Yazici rubbed salt into the visitors’ wounds with a fourth, 11 minutes from fulltime, with the final goal coming after Michelin was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle in the 75th minute.

Earlier, Memphis Depay set up all of Olympique Lyonnais’ goals in a 3-2 win at struggling Racing Strasbourg as Rudi Garcia’s team jumped up to ninth on 10 points.

Striker Tino Kadewere netted his first goal for Lyon in the 12th after being set up by Depay, and midfielder Lucas Paqueta had a goal disallowed for offside shortly after as Lyon dominated.

The second goal came in the 26th when forward Karl Toko Ekambi scored after a fine run and cross from Depay, who then beat two players before teeing up Ekambi again in the 42nd.

Strasbourg replied one minute later through new signing Habib Diallo and Jean-Eudes Aholou pulled another goal back shortly after the break.

Patrick Vieira’s Nice side eased to a 3-1 win at St Etienne to move up to fourth, joining Lens on 13 points.

Pierre Lees-Malou opened the scoring for Nice before 20-year-old Amine Gouiri added a second before half-time.

Adil Aouchiche pulled a goal back for Saint-Etienne on 57 minutes but Myziane Maolida sealed the points for the southerners.

Striker Wissam Ben Yedder scored his fourth goal in four games for Monaco, with his 70th-minute penalty earning a 1-1 home draw with 10-man Montpellier.

The visitors had midfielder Teji Savanier sent off in the 19th for a high tackle and netted in the 51st when English striker Stephy Mavididi ran through from the halfway line before finishing confidently.

In other matches, it was Angers 1, Metz 1, and Nantes 3, Brest 1.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2020