Marseille hold off Saint-Etienne

Marseille have moved to second in Ligue 1 thanks to a 2-1 victory over Saint-Etienne on Sunday night.

It took the hosts just seven minutes to break the deadlock as Giannelli Imbula used the space available 25 yards from goal to curl home the opener.

© Getty Images

Renaud Cohade's inviting cross should have produced the equaliser for the visitors, but Mevlut Erding somehow managed to head wide from inside the six-yard box.

Etienne would pay for the missed opportunity later in the first half when Dimitri Payet doubled his side's lead with a calm finish after collecting a clever through-ball from Andre Ayew.

Jonathan Brison got the visitors back into the match eight minutes into the second half when he converted Allan Saint-Maximin's cross to reduce the deficit.

Saint-Maxim was guilty of wasting Etienne's best chance of claiming a point when he headed over at the back post as Marseille survived a spell on the back foot, before seeing out the win.