Oct 25 (Reuters) - Rennes moved top of the Ligue 1 standings with a comprehensive 3-0 home triumph over RC Strasbourg on Sunday, moving one point ahead of Lille and AS Monaco, who drew earlier in the day.
Sebastian Szymanski scored a double for Rennes, who advanced to 16 points from eight games, with Boulaye Dia opening the scoring in a comfortable triumph.
Lille and Monaco are level on 15 points after they played out a 1-1 draw in the Principality, with Ethan Mbappe opening the scoring in the 24th minute as Lille imposed their early dominance.
New Monaco coach Filipe Luis switched things around with a bevy of changes for the second half and, following Tanguy Nianzou's dismissal in the 66th minute, Edan Diop equalised in the 74th minute.
Champions Paris St Germain and Olympique Lyonnais are next in the standings with 14 points and will play in the capital on Monday.
The clash at the Parc des Princes was moved from Sunday to Monday after police raised security concerns ahead of weekend protests that had hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marching on Saturday.
Largely peaceful rallies gave way to clashes as night fell despite a huge security operation aimed at preventing a repeat of last week's unrest.
Also on Sunday, there was a 4-3 home triumph for beleaguered Olympique de Marseille over Le Havre, helping them move up the league ladder after being stuck in the relegation zone just weeks ago.
They are now eighth with 12 points, although it was a nerve-wracking affair for home fans before Marseille secured a third consecutive league victory.
Le Havre had a penalty claim for possible handball seven minutes into stoppage time at the end of the game waved away after a VAR review.
Marseille had led 4-0 in the 55th minute but nearly threw it away as Le Havre fought back to 4-3 with one minute to go.
Le Havre remain bottom with two points from their first eight games of the season, three points adrift of Troyes, who picked up an away point in a goalless draw at Toulouse.
There were also draws as Lorient were goalless away at Angers, while AJ Auxerre were held 1-1 at home by Le Mans.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
