Auxerre missed the chance to go top of Ligue 1 for the second time this week as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Paris St Germain.

Auxerre took the lead in the tenth minute through Daniel Niculae, but Younousse Sankhare's equaliser six minutes later forced them to settle for a point. The result leaves them in a three-way tie at the top along with Lyon and Montpellier, all three having 57 points from 31 games.

Bordeaux are one point behind with two games in hand, as are Marseille who boosted their own title credentials with a 1-0 win over Lens. Brandao netted the only goal at the Stade Velodrome.

Marseille held on for their 16th win of the season despite the second-half dismissal of Stephane Mbia and extended their unbeaten league run to eight games. Boulogne's hopes of avoiding relegation took a hit with their failure to beat mid-table Toulouse in a 1-1 draw.

With fourth-from-bottom St Etienne beating Le Mans 2-0 yesterday to stretch their lead over Boulogne to nine points, the pressure was on Laurent Guyot's men to respond. And they seemed up to the challenge when Olivier Kapo put them ahead 10 minutes before half-time. They held on until three minutes from the end when Daniel Braaten levelled matters to hand the visitors a point.