Marseille, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Florian Thauvin's first-half tally held up as the winner on Friday as Marseille claimed a 2-0 victory over Montpellier at the Velodrome.
Coming off a lackluster 2-0 loss to Premiership side Arsenal on Tuesday in the Champions League, Marseille was on the front foot on Friday as they looked to get back on the winning track in league play.
The club opened the scoring in the 36th minute as Dimitri Payet whipped a cross into the penalty area from the right flank. The ball was headed back across goal and hammered home by Thauvin for his fourth goal of the domestic campaign.
Marseille carried the lead into the intermission, but slowed the pace a bit in the second half as Montpellier began to create more offensive opportunities. Montpellier's best chance of the match came with 15 minutes to play as Siaka Tiene lined up a free kick from outside the penalty area but struck it straight at Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.
Montpellier was unable to create any other opportunities and Marseille put the match away with a goal from Saber Khelifa in stoppage time to send Montpellier to its sixth consecutive league defeat.
Marseille improves to 27 points from 15 matches, while Montpellier remains in 16th place on 15 points.
Fresh off qualifying for the Champions League round of 16 for the second consecutive season, Paris Saint-Germain return to domestic action on Sunday when the club hosts Lyon at the Parc des Princes.
PSG opened the scoring on Wednesday against Greek side Olympiakos just seven minutes in when Zlatan Ibrahimovic found the back of the net. But they went down a man just a minute into the second half after Marco Verratti was sent off.
Olympiakos claimed an equalizer 10 minutes from time through Kostas Manolas, but 10-man PSG pulled out the victory late on as Edinson Cavani poked home the winner in stoppage time.
PSG head coach Laurent Blanc praised his team's effort:
"We reached our objective tonight," Blanc said. "We didn't do it against Anderlecht. This victory sees us qualify for the next round and ensures we finish top of the group. It was a very tough game, but we won and that is great for the squad and the coaching staff. Against Marseille we won playing ten against 11 and I think that this solidarity, this ability to fight, this desire to attack means we are always dangerous. This team quality is something all great teams need."
In league play, Les Parisiens are coming off a 3-0 road win over Reims on Nov 23. and will aim to maintain their unbeaten record in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Lyon enters the weekend in seventh place in the table, needing three points to push closer to the top four. The club will look to build on a three-match unbeaten run in league play.
Also on Sunday, Bordeaux looks to rebound from a 1-0 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in Europa League play on Thursday against Ajaccio, while Bastia welcomes Evian to the Stade Armand-Cesari hoping to take three points.
On Saturday, Monaco will aim for its second straight league win when the principality club hosts Rennes at the Stade Louis II, while St Etienne hosts Reims at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Guingamp hosts Nantes at the Stade du Roudourou, Nice travels to the Stade du Moustoir to take on Lorient, Toulouse welcomes Sochaux to the Stade Municipal de Toulouse. In the weekend's final fixture, Valenciennes will aim to climb out of the bottom three at the Stade du Hainaut against Lille.
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