Marseille extends winless run at home in Ligue 1

By foxsports
Published

Marseille's poor home form continued as struggling Toulouse secured a 1-1 draw at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday in the French league.

Marseille has failed to win at home in the league since September -- a run of 12 matches -- and is languishing in 13th place in the standings, seven points off the Champions League places.

Wissam Ben Yedder put the visitors in front in the 55th minute with a left-footed angled shot and Marseille leveled 15 minutes from time when Steven Fletcher's effort took a deflection off Toulouse's Brazilian midfielder Somalia and went in.

Toulouse's new manager Pascal Dupraz did not travel to Marseille after a mild cardiac episode and was replaced by assistant coach Mickael Debeve.

Toulouse remains in 19th place, nine points from safety.

"It's time for us to stop burying our heads in the sand," said Marseille `keeper Steve Mandanda. "When you're unable to win at home or to take the points like today, there is nothing to hope for."

Ousmane Dembele later scored the first hat trick of his career as Rennes rose to fourth place with a 4-1 thrashing of Nantes in the western derby.

The 18-year-old French forward opened the scoring almost immediately with a shot in the top left corner in the first minute. Kamil Groscki then connected with a long ball from captain Romain Danze to make it 2-0 after 15 minutes.

Dembele doubled his tally seven minutes when he surprised `keeper Remy Riou with a floating free kick. The striker completed his hat trick at the end of a swift counterattack just before halftime. He sped down the left flank, dribbled past Lorik Cana in the box and beat Riou with a right-footed low shot. Adryan Oliveira Tavares pulled one back for Rennes in the 60th before Rennes was reduced to 10 men when Giovanni Sio was sent off for a second yellow card.

After ending leader Paris Saint-Germain's 36-match unbeaten run in the league last weekend, Lyon later plays Guingamp, aiming to move back to third place. PSG has a 23-point lead over second-place Monaco.