PARIS: Olympique de Marseille consolidated second place in Ligue 1 as Dimitri Payet’s second-half strike gave them a 1-0 win over bottom side Toulouse on Saturday.

Payet struck six minutes into the second half to put Marseille on 49 points from 24 games, provisionally trailing leaders Paris St Germain by nine points.

Third-placed Stade Rennais are eight points behind OM after they were held to a goalless draw at home by Brest. Toulouse, who have suffered 17 league defeats this season, have 13 points.

Marseille were made to wait to open the scoring by a resolute Toulouse side at the Stade Velodrome, but Payet broke the deadlock in the 51st minute. He received a pass from Bouna Sarr and whipped a super 25-meter curler over the goalkeeper and into the top corner for his eighth league goal of the season.

The Provence side, who were once again helped by a sterling performance from keeper Steve Mandanda, have not yet conceded a single goal in Ligue 1 in 2020.

Elsewhere, the league’s top scorer Wissam Ben Yedder and Islam Slimani struck late as Monaco claimed a 2-1 win at Amiens to jump up to fifth on 35 points, five behind fourth-placed Lille.

Monaco trailed to Serhou Guirassy’s first half goal created by a howler by Monaco goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte until Ben Yedder netted his league-leading 16th goal with a superb volley to equalise in the 85th minute. Strike partner Slimani netted an injury-time winner from a Cesc Fabregas corner.

Girondins Bordeaux are one point behind Monaco in sixth after also rallying from a goal down to win 2-1 at Metz, for whom midfielder Vincent Pajot was sent off after eight minutes.

Patrick Vieira’s Nice side slumped to a 3-1 defeat at home to Nimes despite scoring first but the club backed by chemicals giant INEOS are just two points behind Monaco despite a patchy restart since the winter break.

Also, Nantes twice came from behind only to then need an injury time header from Brazilian defender Andrei Girotto to salvage a 3-3 draw at Dijon.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2020