Paris: Lyon beat Nantes 3-1 on Friday night to take a 10-point lead in the French league and another step towards their fifth consecutive championship.
Lyon, who opened the scoring through a masterly freekick from Brazilian Juninho Pernambucano in the ninth minute, were never really troubled and calmly played out the match for their 17th victory over the season.
It was a Juninho freekick which brought about the second goal in the 35th minute with Mahamadou Diarra finding the net and Brazilian Fred got their third in the 57th minute.
Mamadou Diallo earned Nantes a consolation score with about a quarter-hour to go.
Lyon coach Gerard Houllier said afterwards: "We fully deserved this victory. The first half in particular was fantastic and we had a lot of chances and we really produced some good play. We scored a third goal after the break but our performance was not as good."
And in a warning to their title rivals, Houllier added: "The team is still hungry for victories and knows what they need to do to win a fifth title."
Lyon meanwhile announced on Friday that midfielder Florent Malouda had extended his contract by two years.
Second-placed Bordeaux now have the task of making up ground on the champions with a tricky tie at Corsican club Ajaccio on Saturday.
As for Nantes, who were without their suspended captain and skipper Mickael Landreau, they registered their 11th defeat of the season and remained in 12th spot on equal points with St Etienne and Toulouse.
Crisis club Monaco travel to Nice Saturday desperate to claim something from the match and arrest the dismal capitulation that is becoming their season.
Capital giants Paris Saint Germain take on minnows Le Mans at the Parc des Princes while Marseille travel to Metz on Sunday.
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