5 things we learned in Ligue 1 this weekend: Jimmy Briand's Tour de France

With another weekend of Ligue 1 action in the books, we take a look back at five things we learned from the latest slate of matches.

Gazelec Ajaccio cannot stop winning

"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

Those are Leonardo da Vinci's words, and for Ligue 1 new boys Gazelec Ajaccio, they could not be any truer.

Two wins in two matches for the Corsican minnows thanks to a Mohamed Wael Larbi brace in a 2-0 home victory at 8,000-capacity Stade Ange Casanova over Girondins has Le Gaz dreaming of safety following a winless opening 10 matches.

Last Sunday's shocking 3-1 victory over red-hot Nice was the club's first ever top-flight victory. That, coupled with the win over Bordeaux, has GFC in 18th place with nine points as Bastia, Lille, and Montpellier nervously peer over its shoulders to avoid the relegation crunch.

Monaco won at home, finally

Monaco bucked a trend Sunday in a 1-0 victory over surprise side Angers, claiming three points at Stade Louis II for its first home win of the season.

It took a sixth attempt to overcome an embarrassing early-season stretch of local futility, and the result was anything other than convincing, but not even a Rony Lopes point-blank miss could keep a smile off gaffer Leonardo Jardim's weathered visage.

With an unbeaten run of six, Monaco is just two points shy of second-place Lyon. After witnessing Lopes' goalmouth gaff, Mario Pasalic poked a close-range effort past Ludovic Butelle for the match's deciding tally, as if to say "anything you can do, I can do better."

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou torments former club Nantes

FC Nantes had its three-match Ligue 1 winning streak snapped Sunday thanks to an old friend, as Marseille midfielder Georges-Kevin N'koudou's 53rd-minute goal was enough to briefly squash the Brittany side's European ambitions.

N'koudou - who joined Nantes' academy in 2011 - was one of several Canaries to leave La Beaujoire Louis-Fonteneau this summer. Though, unlike Papy Djilobodji (Chelsea) and standout playmaker Jordan Veretout (Aston Villa), the Versailles-born winger is still close enough to haunt former boss Michel Der Zakarian.

N'koudou's first goal of the season helps Marseille win its second on the trot following a seven-match winless streak as a nightmarish opening 10 matches has yielded a sense of optimism on the south coast.

2015-16 Ligue 1 champions: Paris Saint-Germain

Premature maybe, but with a 10-point cushion between Laurent Blanc's men and second-place Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain is poised to run away with its fourth-consecutive Ligue 1 title.

With many of its marquee players rested in lieu of a midweek Champions League rematch with Real Madrid, the capital side did enough in a 1-0 victory at Stade Rennes to amass 32 points from its opening 12 fixtures for the first time in club history.

Blockbuster summer signing Angel Di Maria underwhelmed once again, but his 75th-minute volley was the margin of difference as PSG claimed its sixth Ligue 1 victory on the trot.

Goals of the Week: Briand Back!

Zinedine Machach (Toulouse) vs. Montpellier

Not quite the complete footballer his namesake was - at least not yet -Toulouse teenager Zinedine Machach's 39th-minute laser against Montpellier makes this week's installment by virtue of his shot's levitating properties that eluded the grasp of a befuddled Laurent Pionnier to cancel out Jerome Roussillon's opener five minutes earlier.

Jimmy Briand (EA Guingamp) vs. Lorient

In the spirit of Nice playmaker Hatem Ben Arfa, Jimmy Briand's resurgence at EA Guingamp continues with the 30-year-old Frenchman's third goal on the campaign and this week's clear standout for Goal of the Week.

Briand - along with Nicolas Benezet and Sloan Privat - has helped form a proficient attacking trio as 2014 Coupe de France champions En Avant continue to play an attractive brand of attacking football.

The five-time capped French international got on the end of a probing cross from Yannis Salibur moments after the whistle to fire home a silky scissor kick in the match's opening minute, handing the mid-table Bretons an early lead in a 2-2 draw with Lorient on Saturday.

A la prochaine, mes amis.