The hosts struggled throughout the match as Valenciennes seemed content to sit back and soak up pressure against Elie Baup's men with striker Andre-Pierre Gignac wasting two guilt-edge chances in the first half.

It appeared his misses would prove costly as Marseille continued to battle to break down their opponents before defender Rod Fanni latched onto a Jeremy Morel cross deep into injury time to gift his side victory.

Marseille now move within five points of league-leaders Paris St Germain, who are yet to play this weekend, with the two sides set to face each other next week in what is shaping up to be a blockbuster encounter at the Parc de Princes.

Elsewhere, Nice moved into the European places for at least 24 hours after they scraped past Bastia 1-0.

A Neal Maupay strike just after the hour mark was enough to get Nice over the line with Claude Puel's side now two points ahead of fifth-placed Saint Etienne who will play relegation-threatened Reims on Sunday.

Lorient kept their European hopes alive with a 2-1 win over lowly Evian TG.

A first half penalty to Jeremie Aliadiere put Lorient ahead before Kevin Monnet-Paquet doubled the lead with 12 minutes remaining.

Betao gave Evian a glimmer of hope five minutes later but they could not find the equaliser as Lorient moved within three points of fourth place.

In the day's other games, Montpellier defeated bottom side Nancy 1-0 to strengthen their own European credentials, Toulouse and Troyes played out a riveting 2-2 draw while Brest drew with Ajaccio 1-1.