Guessand stars as Nice beats Marseille 2-0 to move up to fourth place in France

PARIS (AP) — Striker Evann Guessand scored one goal and set up Mohamed-Ali Cho as Nice handed Marseille a 2-0 defeat to move up to fourth place in the French league on Sunday.

The loss also dented second-placed Marseille’s flagging bid to catch Ligue 1 leader Paris Saint-Germain, which is 10 points clear. Nice is one point behind Monaco in third and four points adrift of Marseille, which lost for the fourth time this season.

It was a bad night for Marseille with the visitors’ attack failing to click and its malfunctioning defense yet again conceding a soft goal, this time after seven minutes.

Lilian Brassier carelessly lost the ball near midfield and, after winning it back, then got the ball caught in his feet as Guessand took it off him. Guessand sprinted through before adroitly clipping the ball over goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli, with Brassier trying to roll the ball off the line with his boot.

The second goal came in the 51st as Guessand expertly controlled the ball on his chest and advanced powerfully to the edge of the penalty area before passing to Cho, who finished neatly in the bottom right corner.

Earlier, striker Othmane Maamma came off the bench to score the decisive goal as Montpellier won 2-1 at Toulouse to move off the bottom of the league.

The 19-year-old Maamma headed in a pinpoint cross from creative midfielder Téji Savanier in the 83rd minute.

Midfielder Cristian Casseres gave Toulouse the lead in the 59th minute, but central defender Modibo Sagnan equalized three minutes later for Montpellier.

A second straight win put Montpellier into 17th place in the 18-team league and dropped Le Havre down to last.

Other results on a low-scoring day

Seventh-place Lens beat Angers 1-0 at home, with Facundo Medina setting up Poland winger Przemyslaw Frankowski for the only goal shortly after halftime.

Elsewhere, imposing striker Ludovic Ajorque found the net as eighth-placed Brest won 1-0 at Le Havre, boosting team confidence before facing Real Madrid on Wednesday in the final league-phase game of the Champions League.

On a low-scoring day, striker Mostafa Mohamed grabbed a last-minute goal for Nantes in a 1-1 home draw with Lyon.

Forward Ernest Nuamah put Lyon ahead in the 10th when he turned in Argentina left back Nicolás Tagliafico’s first-time cross past former Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.

PSG remains unbeaten but was held to a 1-1 home draw by Reims on Saturday, with new star signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia setting up PSG’s goal on his debut. ___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer