Victory sends Marseille marching four points clear

PARIS (Reuters) - Olympique de Marseille stretched their Ligue 1 lead to four points after man of the match Florian Thauvin and Rod Fanni clinched a 2-0 home win over Nantes on Friday. Marcelo Bielsa's team now have 34 points from 15 games while champions Paris St Germain are on 30 ahead of their home fixture with Nice on Saturday. Nantes are fifth, 10 points off the pace. Marseille struggled at times but were clinical in front of goal, scoring twice before the interval against the team with the meanest defence in the league having let in only nine goals before Friday's match. Nantes threatened on the break but Thauvin latched on to Dimitri Payet's cross from the right to open the scoring in the 24th minute. The Canaries had a golden opportunity nine minutes from halftime with Georges-Kevin Nkoudou's close-range effort being saved by Steve Mandanda. Three minutes later defender Fanni, with his back to goal, headed in Thauvin's perfect cross to make it 2-0. Mandanda came to the rescue again 20 minutes from time when he parried Jordan Veretout's fierce long-range drive. Marseille winger Romain Alessandrini was replaced in added time by Baptiste Aloe after picking up a suspected ankle injury. (Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Tony Jimenez)