Two penalties by Lucas Moura and a clever chip by Ezequiel Lavezzi helped champions Paris Saint-Germain beat Bordeaux 3-0 yesterday and put pressure on leaders Marseille.
Resurgent OM face Lyon today, where they can clinch a club record 10th straight league win.
Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol had promised to take the game to the champions and his outfit went into the game level on points with the Parisians.
But with Brazilian centre-back pair Thiago Silva and David Luiz holding firm, PSG always looked superior.
With Edinson Cavani suspended and Zlatan Ibrahimovic injured, coach Laurent Blanc started with a makeshift front three of Javier Pastore, Lucas and speedy youngster Jean-Christophe Bahebeck.
Bordeaux had reason for early cheer on 27 minutes when Gregory van Der Wiel delivered a wild studs-up kick to Wahbi Khazri’s heel with the ball gone and the referee right behind him.
He was sent off, but the numerical advantage would last a mere 10 minutes. Andre Poko’s complete miss as he swung at a stray ball would have been comical if the Bordeaux midfielder hadn’t ended up connecting with Marco Verratti’s knee, and while he was unfortunate, he had to walk too.
Sagnol was furious with the red card decision against Poko.
“If that was a red card then maybe (instead of playing football) we should dance or do figure skating. The referee had the red card out before Verratti even hit the deck,” he complained.
Blanc agreed with Sagnol suggesting neither foul had been worth a straight red.
“The sending off motivated the team, but I’d have liked to see 11 against 11. This is a contact sport,” he explained.
With Bordeaux deflated, PSG went on the offensive. PSG then spurned a series of chances before Verratti was brought down in the area as the pressure mounted.
With Ibrahimovic and Cavani absent, penalty duty fell to Lucas, who sent Stephane Carrasso the wrong way, his spot-kick ripping into the opposite corner.
Five minutes into the second-half, Lucas himself was brought down as he beat the offside trap and PSG were awarded another penalty.
The Brazilian coolly planted his second spot-kick in the other corner. Lavezzi, who was returning after being out injured for a month, completed the scoring nine minutes from time.
Elsewhere, Caen notched up their first home points after four straight defeats with a 2-1 win over Lorient, and Reims scored a last minute goal to beat Montpellier 1-0.