Saint-Etienne hammered at home by 9-man Nice in Ligue 1

LOIRE – Saint-Etienne missed the chance to close the gap on French league leader Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday (Monday Manila time) as it fell to a surprise 4-1 defeat at home to a Nice side which ended the match with nine men.

Hatem Ben Arfa scored two stunning goals for Nice after Saint-Etienne defender Loic Perrin had cancelled out Vincent Koziello’s fifth-minute opener.

Jean-Michael Seri scored Nice’s other goal before teammates Nampalys Mendy and Maxime Le Marchand were dismissed in separate incidents.

Jean-Christophe Bahebeck missed a late penalty for Saint-Etienne, which remained four points behind PSG after the three-time defending champion’s victory at Nantes.

Earlier, Marseille’s miserable start to the season continued with a 2-1 home defeat to Angers. Montpellier recorded its first win of the season with a 2-1 victory over Lorient, while last year’s runner-up Monaco was held 3-3 at Guingamp.

Nice was looking for a third successive win and Koziello got it off to the perfect start when he volleyed home Ricardo Pereira’s cross from the left.

Saint-Etienne was struggling to get a foothold in the game but leveled when Fabien Lemoine’s 25-meter effort smacked against the crossbar and Perrin tapped in the rebound.

Ben Arfa restored Nice’s advantage six minutes from halftime when he was left unmarked on the left side of the area to control Jeremy Pied’s cross — which home defender Florentin Pogba inadvertently headed on — with a deft touch and smash a brilliant finish into the far side of the net.

The France winger’s second was even more impressive as, in first-half stoppages, Ben Arfa beat five of his opponents before drilling across into the bottom left corner.

Ben Arfa had a part in Nice’s fourth too as he led a counterattack and Valere Germain raced forward before setting up Seri who burst clear to send a deflected effort past Stephane Ruffier in the 53rd.

Nice went down to 10 men nine minutes later when Mendy was harshly sent off after reacting poorly to a Lemoine tackle. The Saint-Etienne midfielder went back down clutching his face although Mendy had appeared to push his shoulder.

The visitors had another man sent off when Le Marchand was also controversially dismissed for bringing down Lemoine. Bahebeck fired the resulting penalty woefully over the crossbar.

Marseille’s players were booed off the pitch at halftime and at the end of the team’s third defeat of the season. Part of Stade Velodrome was closed after crowd trouble in Marseille’s previous home match against Lyon.

Angers is one of four teams on 15 points, five below PSG.

It went ahead in the 38th minute after Remy Cabella fouled Arnold Bouka Moutou and Thomas Mangani fired the penalty down the middle.

Marseille forced two good saves from visiting goalkeeper Ludovic Butelle immediately after the break, but Angers doubled its advantage in the 70th when Romain Thomas headed in Billy Ketkeophomphone’s free kick.

Michy Batshuayi pulled one back for Marseille from the penalty spot 11 minutes from time after Fode Dore was harshly adjudged to have brought down Lucas Ocampos.

Monaco is ninth after its stuttering start to the season went on.

It took the lead three times but was pegged back on each occasion by Guingamp, including a last-minute equalizer by Nicolas Benezet — his second goal of the match.

Montpellier had lost six of its seven matches, drawing the other one, but it got off to the perfect start when Ramy Bensebaini netted a looping header in the seventh minute after Lorient failed to properly clear a corner.

Rafidine Abdullah leveled with a stunning strike into the top right corner three minutes into the second half, but Jonas Martin fired Montpellier back in front in the 57th.

Abdullah was sent off in stoppage time for a high tackle on Jonas Martin.