Blanc's Lyon notch back-to-back wins

Lyon secured a second straight Ligue 1 victory to continue their upturn in form under new coach Laurent Blanc with a 1-0 success over Lille.

The seven-time French champions replaced Peter Bosz with former France and Paris Saint-Germain boss Blanc following a five-match winless run.

But Lyon backed up last weekend's success at Montpellier with a dogged display to edge out Lille at the Groupama Stadium.

Visiting forward Jonathan David crashed an effort off the crossbar in the closest either side came to an opener in the first half.

Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes made a fine save to keep out Angel Gomes' shot on the hour mark as Lille continued to create most of the chances in the second half.

But Alexandre Lacazette fired in a winner with 16 minutes remaining, scoring his eighth league goal since returning to Lyon from Arsenal.

Earlier on Sunday, Lorient missed the chance to retake third place in the table from Rennes, who saw off Montpellier 3-0, as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Nice.

Lorient led through Burkinabe forward Dango Ouattara's goal, but Youcef Atal and Gaetan Laborde struck in the space of eight second-half minutes to win the match for the away team.

The three points moved Nice into 10th place, four points and two spots below Lyon.

On Saturday, reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain reopened a five-point lead over Lens at the top of the table as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar all found the net in a 4-3 victory against Troyes.