Among Monaco, Lyon and Marseille, Ligue 1 challengers looking anything but

AS Monaco and Lyon were both losers on Saturday as the few French clubs with the weight to bother Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 have all stumbled.

Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette is challenged by Rennes' Sylvain Armand, left, and Fallou Diagne, right, on Saturday during their Ligue 1 contest. Jean-Philippe Ksiazek / AFP / August 22, 2015

AS Monaco and Lyon lost ground on leaders Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 action on Saturday with the Principality side held 1-1 at Toulouse while Lyon fell 2-1 at home to Rennes.

A second-half strike by the excellent Blaise Matuidi gave Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win away to Montpellier on Friday as the French champions maintained their perfect start.

Matuidi’s 61st-minute goal ensured PSG have a maximum nine points, two points ahead of an unheralded pursuing trio of Bastia, Angers and Nantes who all achieved wins on Saturday.

Monaco had been looking to get back to winning ways after their goalless draw at Lille last week and a 3-1 defeat in Valencia in the first leg of their Champions League play-off.

Quarter-finalists last season, Leonardo Jardim’s side face now an uphill struggle to turn that European tie around in the return at the Stade Louis II next Tuesday, before they meet PSG in Ligue 1 next weekend.

Jardim’s starting line on Saturday included just three players who featured in Spain – goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, Brazilian defender Wallace and midfielder Jeremy Toulalan.

And Monaco’s defence was quickly under pressure and could have fallen behind earlier with shots from Wissam Ben Yedder after five minutes and a Martin Braithwaite header three minutes later saved by Subasic.

Defender Layvin Kurzawa returned from injury but Monaco could only garner one point with Thomas Lemar’s 65th equaliser cancelling out Mali midfielder Tongo Doumbia’s 23rd-minute opener following a Subasic error.

“We messed up many of our passes in the first half and conceded a goal because of lack of experience but not because we had a lot of young players on the pitch,” said Jardim.

“Against Valencia the aim is to win by two goals. There isn’t a priority given to the match at home against Valencia or against PSG (next Sunday). The most important match is the next one.”

Earlier Lyon’s patchy early-season form continued after a second-half Mehdi Zeffane goal condemned them to a 2-1 defeat at home to Rennes.

Last season’s runners-up fell behind to a Pedro Henrique goal after just eight minutes at the Stade Gerland.

Hubert Fournier’s men swiftly levelled thanks to Nabil Fekir’s deflected effort after good work from new signing Rafael da Silva.

But Rennes secured back-to-back wins thanks to Algerian international Zeffane’s 56th-minute strike.

“It’s been a complicated start to the season,” admitted midfielder Mathieu Valbuena, who joined Lyon earlier this month from Russian club Dynamo Moscow.

“It’s a big disappointment for the group but particularly for me because it was my first match at home.

“But we mustn’t get discouraged, we have to find the spark that we had last season,” added Valbuena, who is back in his homeland as he bids to win a place in the France squad for Euro 2016.

With Lyon and Monaco stuck mid-table and Marseille in the relegation zone ahead of Sunday's home game against Troyes, Bastia, Angers and Nantes are flying high behind PSG.

In Corsica, Angers won the duel of promoted sides 2-0 at Gazelec Ajaccio thanks to a double from Senegalese captain Cheikh Ndoye, while a Julian Palmieri double helped Bastia to a 3-0 win over Breton visitors Guingamp.

Caen and Reims, who like PSG had won their first two games, both suffered their first defeats of the season with the Normandy side losing 2-1 at Nice following superb goals from Hatem Ben Arfa and Alassane Plea, while Reims lost 1-0 at 2001 champions Nantes.

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE