Canada’s Jonathan David scores twice for Lille in win over Nantes

PARIS — Canadian international Jonathan David continued his torrid scoring pace, accounting for both goals Sunday as Lille won 2-0 at struggling Nantes to top the French league.

The 21-year-old from Ottawa has now scored five goals in his last five games.

Lille (16-2-6) restored its two-point lead over Lyon (15-2-7). Third-place Paris Saint-Germain (16-5-3), which blanked rival Marseille 2-0 later Sunday, is another one point back.

Kylian Mbappe and Mauro Icardi scored in the first half for PSG. Marseille, who have lost four of their last five games, saw Dimitri Payet sent off in the last minute.

In other action Sunday, Aleksandr Golovin scored a hat trick and set up the other goal as Monaco won 4-3 at Nimes for a seventh straight league win.

David opened the scoring for Lille after eight minutes against a lacklustre Nantes side that is in 18th place and has not won any of the six games since former France coach Raymond Domenech took charge.

The Nantes defence failed to clear a Jonathan Bomba cross and the ball dropped at the feet of an unmarked David, who thumped it home with his right foot.

David’s second goal was superbly taken as he booted the ball home from the edge of the penalty area late on, following fine play by American Timothy Weah and Renato Sanches to set him up.

After a Nantes turnover, Weah raced down the flank and sent in a ball to David. The Canadian played a give-and-go with Sanches, who drew both defenders away, before slotting the ball in the corner with his left foot.

After a slow start following his off-season move from Belgium’s KAA Gent, David now has seven goals and four assists in all competitions for Lille.

Down south in Nimes, Golovin starred.

Russia’s midfield star from the 2018 World Cup put Monaco 2-0 up with identical-looking goals inside 11 minutes, ghosting to the back post to meet two crosses from the left by Fode Ballo-Toure.

Striker Wissam Ben Yedder had a goal disallowed soon after as Monaco made a rampant start, only for its leaky defence to allow Nimes to get back in the game. Zinedine Ferhat set up Lucas Deaux and then scored himself to make it 2-2 after 30 minutes of a thrilling half.

Fourth-place Monaco’s total of 35 goals conceded is the highest of the top six but it has now scored 50.

Golovin restored the lead in the 61st when his free kick from the left went past everyone, including unsighted goalkeeper Baptiste Reynet, for his hat trick. He then played striker Kevin Volland through for the fourth in the 76th. Niclas Eliasson pulled one back for last-place Nimes with a free kick.

Niko Kovac’s slick coaching has helped move Monaco up the table, and it faces defending champion Paris Saint-Germain in two weeks.

Neymar was in the PSG squad after recovering from gastroenteritis but Marseille was without imposing striker Arkadiusz Milik, who has a minor thigh injury.

Tensions have been running high at Marseille with coach Andre Villas-Boas resigning this week, just days after a mob of angry fans stormed the training ground in protest at bad results.

To prevent any further incidents, 400 police officers were deployed around the stadium and elsewhere in the city.

OTHER MATCHES

Defender Vitorino Hilton made his 500th appearance in the French first division and the 43-year-old Brazilian finished on the winning side as Montpellier beat struggling Dijon 4-2.

Hwang Ui-jo continued his good form with a second-half goal but it was not enough as Bordeaux lost 2-1 at Brest. The South Korea forward profited from a mix-up in defence to fire in his fourth goal in the last five games, but Benin striker Steve Mounie and midfielder Romain Faivre netted late goals for Brest.

Also, it was: Nice 3, Angers 0; and Saint-Etienne 1, Metz 0.

Lyon swept aside Strasbourg on Saturday with Memphis Depay scoring twice.

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With files from The Associated Press

The Canadian Press