Olympique Marseille and Angers cancelled each other following a goalless draw at the Stade Velodrome in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
Second-place Marseille now trail table-topping Paris Saint Germain by seven points with 13 matches to go.
South African international Lebogang Mothiba was an absentee as Strasbourg stormed to a 3-1 win over AS Monaco.
Ludovic Ajorque gave Strasbourg a halftime lead before Adrien Thomasson and Stefan Mitrovic extended their lead in the second half.
Monaco's consolation arrived in the final minutes through the boot of Stevan Jovetic, as Strasbourg close into the top European slots.
Montpellier's fine run of form across all competitions continued following a 2-1 victory over Dijon FCO.
Montpellier raced to an early lead in the second half through Florent Mollet and Andy Delort after Dijon's Mounir Chouiar saw red in the 54th minute.
The consolation came towards full-time through Mama Balde, as Montpellier close in to the top-three with Dijon still in troubled territory.
Saint-Etienne got their league campaign back on track with a 2-1 win against second-bottom outfit Nimes.
A first-half double from Wahbi Khazri gave the hosts victory, with Zinedine Ferhat netting the consolation in stoppage time for Nimes.
Stade Reims went down 1-0 Metz in a bottom-half battle at the Stade Auguste-Delaune II to extend their winless run.
The game's only effort arrived as early as the third minute through Senegalese international Habib Diallo.
Brest picked up a second successive league win after overcoming Bongani Zungu's Amiens 2-1 at the Stade Francis-Le Ble.
Alexandre Mendy put the hosts ahead after halftime, but a penalty from Serhou Guirassy put the visitors level on 58 minutes until Irvin Cardona netted the winner later on.