PSG finish 2015 with 19-point lead in Ligue 1 after Angers are beaten

Benjamin Corgnet's 62nd-minute strike denies Angers chance of going back above Monaco into second place.

Saint-Etienne's French forward Neal Maupay, centre, vies with Angers' Senegalese midfielder Cheikh N'Doye, right, during their Ligue 1 game late on Sunday. Jean-Philippe Ksiazek / AFP

PARIS // Paris Saint-Germain will finish 2015 with a 19-point lead at the top of Ligue 1 after Angers lost 1-0 at Saint-Etienne on Sunday.

Benjamin Corgnet scored the only goal of the game on 62 minutes, denying Angers the chance of going back above Monaco into second place.

PSG won 3-0 at fourth-placed Caen on Saturday to set a new record of 51 points at the halfway stage of the season after an unbeaten first 19 matches during the current campaign.

PSG also set a club-record 28-match unbeaten league run after expensive stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Angel di Maria both hit the target in Caen.

Year in review

Monaco are second after a 0-0 draw at winless and rock bottom Troyes on Saturday took them a point clear of Angers.

St Etienne, who have struggled for form this season, moved up to sixth, just three points behind Monaco in the congested race for the European places.

“I’m not looking at the top of the table because we’re also rather too close for comfort to the relegation zone,” Saints coach Christophe Galtier conceded after the game.

“Today’s win was a key result, we really needed those three points,” he added.

Hubert Fournier may have overseen his last game at Lyon, who were last year’s surprise package but who have flopped this season as they prepare to move into their new stadium in the new year sitting in mid-table and having been knocked out of all European competition.

The coach and his club President Jean Michel Aulas were stone faced after watching Lyon lose 2-1 at tiny Gazelec Ajaccio, where Mohamed Larbi scored twice before Clement Grenier pulled a goal back late on.

Aulas refused to say if the coach would survive the winter break: “It wouldn’t be fair to speak about that now. We’ll take our time to make any announcements,” he said.

“It’s not only Hubert Fournier’s fault. The players know this and are trying to rally to the cause.”

In Sunday’s late game, 2009 champions Bordeaux and Marseille, who succeeded them to the title in an era before Qatari money helped PSG sweep all before them, drew 1-1.

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