AS Saint-Étienne stole a march on their rivals for European qualification in Ligue 1 by recording a resounding 4-1 success against Montpellier Hérault SC, while OGC Nice and FC Girondins de Bordeaux failed to win.

After Paris Saint-Germain FC stretched their lead at the top to six points over Olympique Lyonnais with Friday's 3-1 win against SC Bastia, focus shifted to the fight for fourth in the table on Saturday. Starting the day in sixth, St-Étienne jumped two places as Brandão, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Yohan Mollo and Mathieu Bodmer all found the net in their defeat of Montpellier.

Nice are fifth after they were unable to see off FC Lorient, the two sides playing out a 1-1 draw, while Bordeaux dropped to sixth after a 1-0 defeat at AC Ajaccio. Ricardo Faty buried an overhead kick from Johan Cavalli's set piece 31 minutes in to seal the result.

Also on Saturday, Floyd Ayité and Odair Fortes scored to give Stade de Reims a 2-1 win at AS Nancy-Lorraine and move them to 16th in the table, leaving their vanquished opponents bottom, while Valenciennes FC overcame Stade Brestois 29 2-1.

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