Lyon take the top, but Nantes breathe down their necks
A draw at Marseille was enough to put Olympique Lyonnais back on the summit of Ligue 1 Uber Eats, with FC Nantes a point behind and one match in hand.
The ball would not settle. In the closing minutes at the Stade Vélodrome, Marseille pushed and Lyon resisted, and the 1-1 draw felt to both benches like a verdict half-read: enough for Lyon to climb back to the top of Ligue 1 Uber Eats, not enough for anyone to feel safe. A cycle ago the summit belonged to FC Nantes; now it belongs to Lyon, by two points, and the whole city knows how thin that margin is.
Lyon have 30 points from 14 games, nine won, three drawn, two lost, a goal difference of +24, and they had already done the harder work seven days earlier with a 2-0 win over Nîmes Olympique. Nantes sit on 28 from 13, one defeat all season, +12, and a match in hand that must feel like a held breath. OGC Nice, 27 from 13 and +15, made the loudest statement of the week: 3-0 at AS Monaco, a result that rearranges the furniture near the top without quite toppling it. Marseille are fourth on 26 from 14, +9, and Paris Saint-Germain fifth on 24 from 13, +6, after a 1-1 draw with Dijon FCO.
Below them, the week's quieter dramas. FC Lorient climbed from 12th to 9th with a 2-1 win at RC Strasbourg Alsace, whose ten points from 13 leave them 16th. RC Lens, also on ten, are 17th, and Dijon's single point at the Parc des Princes does little for a side on six from 13, 18th. LOSC Lille and Montpellier Hérault SC shared a 1-1, Stade Malherbe Caen and ESTAC Troyes a 2-2.
Lyon's next assignment is the Champions League at FC Internazionale Milano on 27 November, and they will travel as leaders. "We are where we wanted to be," one Lyon voice said afterwards, "but nobody in this dressing room is counting anything yet." Wise. Nantes have a game to play, and the winter is long.