PARIS (AFP) - Marseille's slide down the table continued with a 1-0 home defeat to second-placed Lens at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday.

Lens closed the gap on leaders Lyon to 13 points with the victory, secured through an Aruna Dindane penalty just before the hour mark.

The result meant Marseille have now gone six games without a win and have slumped to eighth in the table and four points off a Champions League qualifying place.

World Cup winner Fabian Barthez rolled back the years as Nantes boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 victory away to Sochaux.

Barthez produced a string of important stops to deny the hosts who could have taken third place in the league had they won.

Dimiti Payet opened the scoring for the Canaries on 23 minutes but Sochaux equalised from the spot through Alvaro Santos after Alioum Saidou had brought down Valter Birsa.

Claudiu Keseru snatched the points for the visitors six minutes after the break, breaking clear of the attentions of Rabiu Afolabi before slotting the ball past Teddy Richert in the hosts' goal.

It was then that Barthez came to the fore, repelling everything Sochaux threw at him.

The win moved Nantes off the bottom, which they had occupied since Sedan beat Paris St Germain 2-0 on Saturday, and to within just three points of safety.

Saturday's programme was marred by crowd violence at two games.

Champions Lyon's trip to St Etienne was stopped for 20 minutes after fans threw smoke bombs onto the pitch.

The referee took the players off to the changing rooms as police fired tear-gas into the crowd to quell the trouble.

The runaway league leaders had stormed into a 3-0 before the bombs were thrown onto the pitch and eventually won 3-1 after the game resumed.

Goals from Kim Kallstrom, Tiago and Fred opened up a comfortable lead for the visitors before Bafetimbi Gomis reduced the arrears with 10 minutes left to play.

Lyon coach Gerard Houllier seemed unperturbed by the crowd problems, although he did complain that the stoppage affected his team's attacking flair.

"We saw a great Lyon team that scored three great goals and could have had two more," he said.

"Football is entertainment and today we played well and entertained. We were also very effective.

"We didn't become deflated in the hostile atmosphere. It wasn't easy. The stoppage cost us our flair because until then we were playing really well."

That was followed later in the day by fights between rival fans ahead of the Sedan v PSG match.

Only it was fans of Dutch team FC Utrecht who clashed with PSG supporters before the game.

Utrecht fans, who have a special bond with their Sedan counterparts and often come to support the French team at big games, charged a PSG section of the ground and later several Dutch fans were arrested.

PSG dropped into the bottom three after an own goal from goalkeeper Mikael Landreau and a late effort from Mansour Boutabout condemned them to a second straight loss.

That coupled with Valenciennes's 0-0 draw at home to high-flying Toulouse, meant PSG dropped to third from bottom and the pressure is mounting on new boss Paul Le Guen, despite his promising beginnings to life at the Parc des Princes club.

Lille warmed up for their crucial Champions League last 16 second leg clash at Manchester United with a 4-0 thumping of Troyes. Abdul Kader Keita and Stephane Dumont scored a brace each as Lille moved back up to third in the table.