Neymar scores twice as PSG ease to comfortable victory over Rennes

Neymar scored twice as 10-man Paris St Germain asserted their dominance over reigning Ligue 1 champions Monaco with a 4-1 victory at Rennes.

His first goal, poked home from a Kylian Mbappe pass early on, brought him to 10 league goals for the season and in the 17th minute he set up the Frenchman for PSG’s second.

The hosts reignited the contest when Firmin Mubele halved the deficit with a 53rd-minute goal but PSG turned the screw in the last 15 minutes.

Edinson Cavani made it 3-1 with a sumptuous chip from distance before Mbappe once again found Neymar for a classy finish beyond Koubek.

Rennes thought they had a lifeline when Presnel Kimpembe conceded a penalty and saw red for his troubles at the death, but Sunderland loanee Wahbi Khazri blasted his spot-kick over the bar.

Monaco had closed the gap on the leaders to six points with their Friday thrashing of St Etienne but the Parisians are now nine points ahead once more.

Lille’s troubles deepened with a 3-0 loss to Dijon.

LOSC officially parted company with manager Marcelo Bielsa on Friday and were three down before half-time at the Stade Gaston Gerard.

Wesley Said struck twice inside the first 20 minutes while Fode Ballo-Toure’s own goal in the 35th minute meant there was no coming back for Lille.

Bottom side Metz secured just their second victory of the season by coming from behind to defeat Montpellier 3-1.

Jerome Roussillon put Montpellier ahead in the 20th minute but Metz levelled through Renaud Cohade eight minutes later.

Frederic Hantz’s side came very close to victory against Rennes last weekend before conceding a late equaliser but agony turned to ecstasy here.

Emmanuel Riviere put Metz ahead six minutes from time and Nicolas Basin added gloss with an injury-time third.

Strasbourg climbed to seventh place with a 2-1 victory over Toulouse.

A Jonas Martin penalty opened the scoring in the 25th minute, although it took Max-Alain Gradel just five minutes to equalise for Toulouse.

However, Kader Mangane netted what proved to be the winner seven minutes after half-time.

Troyes put distance between themselves and the relegation zone with a 1-0 victory over Amiens.

Stephane Darbion scored the only goal in the 78th minute, with Troyes now level on points with their opponents and three points above the relegation zone.

The mid-table battle between Caen and Guingamp ended goalless.