Paris Saint-Germain put on a solid display in the opening half to maintain their perfect record in Ligue 1 with Idrissa Gueye’s fine goal inspiring them to a 2-0 home win against Montpellier on Saturday.
Senegal midfielder Gueye fired home from just outside the box at a packed Parc des Princes and substitute Julian Draxler wrapped it up late to put the capital side on 24 points, well ahead of second-placed Olympique de Marseille.
In the absence of Lionel Messi, who missed his second consecutive game to nurse a bruised knee, Angel Di Maria started up front for PSG, alongside Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. The spark came from the midfield, with Gueye unleashing a fierce strike that went into the top corner to put the hosts ahead in the 14th minute.
Under sustained pressure, Montpellier reacted with a fine free-kick by Teji Savanier, which was parried by Keylor Navas, again favoured over Gianluigi Donnarumma to start in goal.
Neymar was lively again but was denied twice by Jonas Omlin, who could do nothing against Ander Herrera’s shot three minutes before the break, but was saved by his crossbar.
The second half was a less exciting affair with both teams struggling to find the target as Neymar continued to waste chances and Mbappe also lacked sharpness in the area.
Di Maria was replaced with Draxler in the 88th minute and it took the German only one minute to find the back of the net after being set up by Neymar.
PSG are set to host Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Weah’s busy day
United States forward Timothy Weah set up the first goal and earned a penalty for the second as defending champions Lille won 2-1 at Strasbourg to move up to eighth spot. Weah set up Canada striker Jonathan David from the left flank midway through the first half.
David netted from the spot in the 57th after Weah — the son of Liberia President and former Ballon d’Or winner George Weah — ran onto David’s pass and was tripped.
Third-placed Nice won 3-0 at struggling Saint-Etienne. Amine Gouiri continued his fine form, putting Nice ahead in the 15th minute with his league-leading fifth goal of the season. His shot from about 30 meters was deflected past the goalkeeper.
Dutch winger Calvin Stengs netted 10 minutes into the second half to make it 2-0 and striker Andy Delort completed the scoring late on.