Paris Saint-Germain beat Rennes, close on leaders Nice

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Paris Saint-Germain kept a seventh Ligue 1 clean sheet in eight games as they closed the gap on leaders Nice to three points with an emphatic 4-0 win over Rennes.

Goals from Edinson Cavani, Adrien Rabiot and Marco Verratti helped stretch Unai Emery's side's unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions, moving them level with second-placed Monaco.

A Gelson Fernandes own goal started the evening's scoring as the visitors slumped to a first league defeat in five matches.

Kevin Trapp was the first of the two goalkeepers to be worked when Paul-Georges Ntep was fed on the edge of the area by Yoan Gourcuff but the young forward's tame effort was easily gathered.

Despite a shaky start, Emery's team began to find their feet and Angel Di Maria had his first sight of goal on 12 minutes but -- after cutting inside from the right -- the Argentina international dragged his shot wide of the near post.

Not long after, Thiago Silva went close to an opener after meeting Di Maria's corner with a near post effort -- but Fernandes was on hand to save his team with a clearance at the near post.

Then, with just over half hour played, the hosts made a deserved breakthrough on the balance of play when Cavani's header from Di Maria's corner hit the bar before coming down, rebounding off Fernandes and beyond Benoit Costil.

Fernandes' bout of misfortune continued as PSG made it 2-0 shortly three minutes before the break. The Swiss international's careless play on the edge of his own area gifted Cavani possession and the Uruguay international needed no second invitation as he cleverly lifted the ball over Costil.

Cavani's joy turned to anguish, though, right on the stroke of half-time after he was forced off following injury, with former Real Madrid forward Jese coming on as his replacement.

PSG's dominance continued after the break and Di Maria was guilty of being wasteful on two occasions, firstly dragging an effort some distance wide of the post after being picked out by Jese before his direct free kick clipped the wall on its way out for a corner.

Jese was next to go close with a deflected effort from the edge of the area that just cleared the crossbar, before Serge Aurier struck the bar with a powerful shot.

Rennes struggled to clear their lines from yet another Parisian attack before Di Maria rolled the ball into Rabiot's path to hammer an effort beyond Costil into the bottom corner midway through the second half.

There was no let up from the champions, though, as Aurier headed against the bar from another Di Maria delivery before Marco Verratti added a fourth 11 minutes from time, thumping a low effort into the corner from Hatem Ben Arfa's pass.

Thiago Motta went close to adding a fifth in added time, but his header bounced up off the turf and onto the post before being cleared.