Marseille missed the chance to move back into second place in Ligue 1 although they did salvage a 2-2 draw against Lille thanks to Bolo Zenden's injury-minute equaliser.
Lille led 2-0 after 37 minutes, goals from Adil Rami and Michel Bastos putting them in control.
Mamadou Samassa pulled one back two minutes into the second half and former Liverpool midfielder Zenden netted a dramatic leveller at the death.
The draw means Marseille stay third, a point behind Nice and six adrift of leaders Lyon.
Three goals in five second-half minutes gave Monaco a 3-0 victory over Le Mans.
Monaco had missed a penalty in the first half as the teams battled to a stalemate, but things turned quickly after the break.
Alejandro Alonso opened the scoring in the 48th minute and Le Mans defender Paulo Andre put the ball into his own net moments later.
The visitors had barely caught their breath when they conceded another as Alexandre Licata fired home in the 52nd minute.
Nancy won 1-0 at Nantes thanks to Youssouf Hadji's late goal.
Lyon lost 1-0 on Saturday night at Paris St Germain.
Ludovic Giuly headed home the only goal of the game in the 25th minute to secure his team's third victory on the trot and help them continue their push up the table.
Lyon's misery was compounded when substitute Juninho was sent-off 15 minutes after coming off the bench.
A solid performance by Nice saw them take all three points at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard against a St Etienne side who despite showing a marked improvement are now rock-bottom of the table.
Olivier Echouafni scored the only goal of the game in the 19th minute and Alain Perrin's St Etienne simply could not make the breakthrough against a team who had only conceded one goal in their previous three games.
Rennes and Bordeaux battled out a 1-1 draw.
Yoann Gourcuff earned Les Girondins a share of the spoils after Olivier Thomert had given visitors Rennes the lead.
At the wrong end of the table, 10-man Valenciennes were denied only a third Ligue 1 victory as fellow strugglers Sochaux grabbed a late 2-2 draw which sees both teams remain in the drop zone.
Mevlud Erdinc put the visitors ahead five minutes before the interval but two goals in five second-half minutes from Jose Saez and Johan Audel looked to have put second-bottom VA on course for the points.
However, substitute Sloan Privat struck with two minutes remaining to salvage a draw for the Montbeliard outfit after the hosts had been reduced to 10 men following a second yellow card for Jonathan Lacourt.
Elsewhere, Caen beat Auxerre 1-0 at the Stade Michel d'Ornano thanks to Reynald Lemaitre's second-half header, Kevin Gameiro scored the only goal as Lorient edged Toulouse 1-0 and Grenoble and Le Havre battled out a goalless draw at the Stade Des Alpes.
