Marseille’s Sanson beats Bielsa’s struggling Lille

PARIS: Marseille piled the pressure on their former coach Marcelo Bielsa after a 1-0 win at Lille left the Argentinian’s side stuck in the Ligue 1 relegation zone.

Midfielder Morgan Sanson grabbed the only goal of the game in just the fifth minute at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy and Rudi Garcia’s visitors held on to close out the victory.

Marseille moved up to fourth in the French top flight, eight points behind arch- rivals and league leaders Paris St Germain, while Bielsa’s Lille remain second-bottom and four points from safety.

The 62-year-old joined at the end of last season, and after a raft of new signings, expectations were high at Lille ahead of the campaign.

But they have yet to win in the league since the opening day of the season and are in danger of being relegated for the first time since being promoted in 2000.

Former Montpellier midfielder Sanson, 23, delivered the killer blow on Sunday as he took advantage of some static home defending to slot in Florian Thauvin’s low free-kick.

Lille plugged away but failed to create enough clear-cut chances, with Ezequiel Ponce firing into the side netting deep into injury-time.

Earlier on Sunday, Lyon captain Nabil Fekir scored a fine first-half brace to lift his side to third after a 2-0 defeat of rock-bottom Metz.

The 24-year-old France international Fekir has scored nine goals already this season, spearheading the Lyon attack after the departure to Arsenal of prolific striker Alexandre Lacazette.

It was a fourth straight win for a confident looking side who host Everton in the Europa League midweek before a trip to their bitter regional rivals St Etienne next weekend.

Sunday’s win leaves Lyon on 22 points from 11 games, just three points behind defending champions Monaco and seven adrift of leaders Paris St Germain. — AFP