Paris Saint-Germain move clear of Lyon atop Ligue 1 table

Jean-Sebastien Evrard/AFP/Getty Images

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Paris St. Germain moved three points clear of Lyon at the top of Ligue 1 with a 2-0 win at Nantes.

The capital club, now just three games from the title, went ahead through Edinson Cavani after only four minutes and Blaise Matuidi added a second shortly after the half-hour mark.

PSG wasted no time in stamping their authority on the match when Zlatan Inrahimovic's shot eventually found its way into the path of Cavani and the Uruguay international blasted a shot beyond Remy Riou with the aid of a post.

It could easily have been two for the hosts at the quarter-hour mark but, after being played through on goal by Ibrahimovic, Cavani saw his effort well saved by Riou as an unmarked Ibrahimovic waited for the return pass.

Chances continued to come thick and fast but Cavani and Javier Pastore found Riou a tough nut to crack in the Nantes goal, while at the other end Nicolas Douchez did his best to match his counterpart, getting down well to keep out Serge Gakpe's goalbound header.

Nantes began to grow into the game but, just as they looked favourites to get the next goal, the champions hit back to deliver a crushing blow.

With little over half-an-hour played, Ibrahimovic picked the ball up just outside the area and his superb pass through the legs of Oswaldo Vizcarrondo released Matuidi and the France international did the rest with an emphatic finish beyond Riou.

The visitors still were not having things all their own way, though, and Douchez had to be alert to punch clear Alejandro Bedoya's header late in the first half.

Laurent Blanc thought his side should have had a penalty moments after the restart when Ibrahimovic went down under Issa Cissokho's challenge, but referee Ruddy Buquet waved the claims away.

PSG suffered a blow when Marco Verratti and Thiago Motta were booked, ruling them both out of next week's tricky-looking encounter with Montpellier, but Sunday night's work was done.