French Ligue 1: Montpellier extend positive run

Montpellier extended their unbeaten Ligue 1 streak to six matches as they claimed a comfortable 4-0 victory over Nantes at Stade de la Mosson on Saturday night.

Paul Lasne opened the scoring for the hosts early on, while Kevin Berigaud, Anthony Mounier and Lucas Barrios added further goals after the break to make the three points safe.

Rolland Courbis' side have now won their last three league matches to remain sixth, just five points off fourth-placed St Etienne, while the defeat saw Nantes drop down a spot to ninth with their last league win coming at Lorient last month.

The home side started strongest and Berigaud could have put them in front after seven minutes as he collected Daniel Congre's long ball forward, but the 26-year-old striker fired into the side-netting.

Just one minute later and Montpellier took the lead thanks to an effort from Lasne.

The former Ajaccio midfielder took the ball down the right channel and put in a powerful cross, the strength of which appeared to take goalkeeper Remy Riou by surprise as he let the ball go behind him and over the line for Lasne's second goal in three games.

The hosts almost doubled their lead midway through the first half but Riou was on hand to slap Jonas Martin's effort to safety.

It took until 25 minutes for Nantes to come close to netting an equaliser as Yacine Bammou tested Geoffrey Jourdren with a well-controlled shot, before the home keeper went down for a decent save.

The visitors had the first real effort of the second half as Olivier Veigneau sent in an excellent cross from the left toward the far post where Johan Audel drilled a powerful effort toward the Montpellier goal, but Jourdren managed to deflect the shot away with his foot.

Just before the hour mark the home side doubled their lead as Barrios took the ball into the 18-yard box and beat defender Veigneau before setting up Berigaud, who fired home a low drive in an empty net.

The third goal came after 79 minutes when a defensive error by Lucas Deaux and Djidji allowed Mounier to take possession of the ball inside the penalty area and he slotted the ball home with a cool left-footed strike.

Barrios completed the scoring with less than 10 minutes left as he collected Morgan Sanson's pass 22 yards out and fired a powerful effort into the back of the net to make it four.