Pacesetters Montpellier needed Jonathan Tinhan's late equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw at Dijon, who led through Gael Kakuta. The result means second-placed Paris St Germain could go top with victory over Ajaccio tomorrow.

Third-placed Lille threw away a two-goal lead at home to struggling Auxerre. Eden Hazard's double had the defending champions on top despite the dismissal of Mauro Cetto but Anthony Le Tallec's red card evened up the numbers before late goals from Ben Sahar and Cedric Hengbart snatched an unlikely point.

Marseille lost at home to Toulouse, Aymen Abdennour scoring the only goal, while Sebastien Puygrenier and Djamel Bakar inflicted an eighth away defeat of the season on Lyon and gave relegation-threatened Nancy a 2-0 victory

Evian - who started the day 12th - were the highest-placed team to win tonight, as goals from Cedric Mongongu and Yannick Sagbo sealed a 2-0 win over Champions League-chasing St Etienne at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

Nice picked up a first away win of the campaign at the expense of European hopefuls Bordeaux - Luciano Monzon (penalty) and Abraham Guie scoring in the first half, with Marc Planus replying for Les Girondins midway through the second.

Sochaux are in danger of being cut adrift. Gregory Pujol put visiting Valenciennes ahead midway through the second half but Nicolas Isimat-Mairin's own goal eight minutes later saved the hosts from another defeat - although the out-of-form Les Lionceaux are now five points from safety.