PARIS (AFP) - Lens striker Aruna Dindane handed leaders Nancy their first defeat of the season as six-time French league champions Lyon closed the gap to just one point on Saturday.

Dindane's 70th-minute penalty handed Lens and their new coach Jean-Pierre Papin their first win of the season.

But Nancy remain top of the standings with 16 points after seven games, one point ahead of Lyon who thrashed tailenders Metz 5-1.

Former French football legend Papin was relaxed and smiling ahead of his first home game at the Felix-Bollaert stadium.

In the job just two weeks, Papin rang the changes by leaving captain Yohann Demont and Nenad Kovacevic, two key members of the team under his predecessor Guy Roux on the bench, and giving new recruit Kader Mangane his first outing.

"We took three points and toppled the leader for the first time. I'm very satisfied and the players are happy.

"Everything will fall into place over the season," said Papin, whose side are fourth from bottom with five points from six matches.

Nancy coach Pablo Correa said: "We have the impression that we gave them the match, we missed our chances. Our biggest battle was with ourselves."

Lyon, meanwhile, swamped Metz as a first-half hattrick from Karim Benzema set the tone for the one-sided encounter.

Benzema opened after just four minutes, added his second after 36 minutes and claimed his third two minutes later.

Senegalese striker Babacar Gueye got one back for Metz just after the break before Hatem Ben Arfa (59) and Juninho (87) added two more for Lyon.

Earlier Marseille were plunged deeper into crisis as Toulouse claimed a resounding 2-1 victory and their first win at the Velodrome in 44 years.

Three days before their Champions League opener against Turkish side Besiktas, Albert Emon's men looked a shadow of the team who finished runners-up behind Lyon last season.

They are sitting 15th with just seven points from eight games, having garnered just two points from four home games this season.

Emon's beleaguered side left the pitch after the first half with the angry whistles of the crowd ringing in their ears after goals from Achille Emana (10) and Johan Elmander (36) gave Toulouse an early advantage.

The hosts woes were compounded when captain Julien Rodriguez was sent off after 66 minutes for fouling Fode Mansare.

Toulouse were also reduced to ten men when Herita Ilunga was sent off nine minutes later for a second yellow card.

Ronald Zubar pulled one back for Marseille in the dying minutes of the game but it was too little too late.

Valenciennes drop from second position to fourth after losing 2-0 at Le Mans, as third-placed Bordeaux were held 1-1 at Lille in a game the highlight of which was the debut of former Dutch star Patrick Kluivert for the hosts.

Saint-Etienne, meanwhile, bounced back from last week's loss to Nancy as an Araujo Ilan double helped them to a 3-0 win over Caen.

Auxerre revival hopes were boosted with a 2-0 win at home against Nice as Strasbourg had to settle for a goalless draw at second-from-bottom Sochaux.

Sunday's big match sees Monaco, who sit in fifth place three points behind Nancy, host Paris St Germain.