Marseille dig deep to keep pressure on PSG and Lyon

Paris - A single point separates the top three teams in Ligue 1 after Marseille climbed back to second with a hard-fought 1-0 home win over plucky Evian on Saturday.

The victory was secured when Andre-Pierre Gignac converted a 49th minute penalty, for his 14th goal of the season, after referee Frank Schneider awarded Marseille a controversial spot-kick when Dimitri Payet took a slight knock in the box.

Lyon are still top on 48 points ahead of their plum clash with resurgent Monaco on Sunday, but Marseille, who lead Paris Saint-Germain on goal difference and who beat Rennes 1-0 on Friday, are breathing down their necks on 47 points.

Marseille lost their south coast derby at Nice last weekend and had been tipped to rip Evian to pieces at the Velodrome, and although they were rampant at times, Evian's work-rate stifled them for long periods.

Young French hope Florian Thauvin had a Marseille goal disallowed for a harsh off-side decision against his strike partner Gignac while Payet saw his sumptuous long-range shot sail inches over the Evian bar.

But the visitors were also denied what appeared to be a certain penalty early in the match.

On Friday Ezequiel Lavezzi scored the only goal as champions Paris Saint-Germain edged Rennes 1-0 rounding off a fabulous piece of teamwork from the capital outfit.

The goal came on 29 minutes after a neat interchange of passes down the left between Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was involved twice, Adrien Rabiot and Javier Pastore.

This maintained their unbeaten Ligue 1 home record and more importantly cut the gap on leaders Lyon to just one point.

The win was PSG's sixth consecutive home win in all competitions while stretching their Ligue 1 record at the Parc des Princes to eight wins and three draws.

However, Lyon, who face PSG in ten days, can restore their four-point lead with victory at Monaco on Sunday.

The match at the Louis II stadium on the Cote d'Azur promises fireworks with Lyon and Monaco, the two in-form teams in the top flight.

Lyon are riding a seven-match winning streak while Monaco haven't tasted defeat in seven games with both teams' defences proving especially frugal.

Monaco haven't conceded a goal in some 700 minutes while Lyon have yet to leak a goal in 476, a run of over five matches.

The top two teams from France automatically qualify for Europe's biggest competition while the third-placed team must negotiate qualifying, a hurdle Lille failed to clear this season.