PARIS (AFP) - Lyon boosted their stuttering title defence with a far from convincing 1-0 derby win against Saint-Etienne on Sunday as a late Pierre-Alain Frau goal rescued a 1-1 draw for Paris Saint Germain against Lille.

Lyon have dominated the French championship for the past six seasons but have been struggling mid-table with one win and two successive defeats from their first three matches.

But a goal from striker Karim Benzema, following a Juninho pass after 53 minutes, earned all three points at their Gerland Stadium, giving Lyon six points from four games, as they move up two places to tenth.

In Paris, Paul Le Guen's side are still looking for their first win but looked set for their second home loss after midfielder Jean Makoun put Lille ahead four minutes before the break.

The Parisians were left ruing a missed penalty by Pauleta after 71 minutes but late substitute Frau made no mistake when he found himself alone in front of goal three minutes from time to fire past Tony Sylva.

One week before they are due to face Marseille, who achieved their first win of the season 2-1 at Caen Saturday, things couldn't look worse for PSG, who are stuck 14th in the table with just four points out of a possible fifteen.

Le Guen said that his side would have to show character to overcome what he termed the "psychological block" of playing in front of their demanding fans at Parc des Princes.

"I know that it's all in the head for certain players. We have to wake up. Frau is an example of how to beat this phychological block. He comes on and says: 'I don't have anything to lose, I'm going to give it everything'," said Le Guen.

Nancy took over top spot with a 4-1 win at home against Auxerre on Saturday, which gives them 13 points after five games, two ahead of Lorient who snatched a 2-2 draw at Bordeaux.

Monaco, who brought high-flying Le Mans back to earth with a 3-1 win at their Louis II Stadium are third, equal on ten points with Strasbourg and Valenciennes, who won 3-1 at home against Sochaux.

Le Mans fall from top spot to sixth.

But the surprise of the weekend was the news that Lens' veteran coach Guy Roux was quitting after just four matches, and would be replaced by former Marseille, Bordeaux and Bayern Munich player Jean-Pierre Papin.

Sidi Keita netted Lens' first goal of the season at Strasbourg, but their 2-1 loss in Alsace leaves them third from bottom.

Marseille rekindled their campaign as they moved up to 11th place with six points after five games.

Albert Emon was determined his side would avoid the pitfalls of their last few league games when they threw away first-half leads to lose 2-1 to Valenciennes and draw 2-2 at Nancy.

And Emon said that he gave his team a talking to after a Julien Rodriguez header put them ahead two minutes before the break.

"At half-time we said that we couldn't let Caen turn things around and we fought tooth and nail to avoid that," said Emon.

"These three points are very important for us. We're relieved."

Elsewhere Metz remain stuck to the bottom of the league table after losing 2-0 at Rennes, while Toulouse held Nice 1-1.