Mbappe on target as PSG win without injured Neymar

Kylian Mbappe scored from the penalty spot as Paris Saint-Germain eased to their seventh straight Ligue 1 win on Saturday night, beating Nantes 3-0 away to move provisionally three points clear at the top of the table. All the goals came in the second half at the Stade de la Beaujoire, with Ander Herrera opening the scoring two minutes after the restart and Mbappe converting a 65th-minute spot-kick before Pablo Sarabia secured the points late on.
PSG have now taken maximum points since starting the season with back-to-back defeats and the reigning champions are three clear of Lille and Rennes at the summit. Lille, who are unbeaten, can rejoin the club from the capital at the top if they beat Lyon in a late match last night. Rennes beat Brest 2-1 on Saturday.
“I am very happy. We made lots of changes because we felt it was necessary. We don’t expect things to be perfect and spectacular all the time,” said Paris coach Thomas Tuchel.
He made six changes to his line-up following the 2-0 midweek win at Istanbul Basaksehir in the Champions League, with Neymar one of those missing after suffering an adductor injury that is expected to keep him out until the upcoming international break.
However Nantes, whose game at Lens last weekend was called off following a coronavirus outbreak in their opponents’ squad, were missing an entire back four here, including three to Covid-19. Sarabia hit the post early on for the visitors in this game, played behind closed doors after France returned to a full national lockdown in an attempt to stem a surge in coronavirus cases.
Nigerian winger Moses Simon then missed an open goal for Nantes, somehow failing to turn in Randal Kolo Muani’s assist. Kolo Muani then curled a shot agonisingly wide after a Herrera slip had let Nantes in, before PSG took off Moise Kean — scorer of four goals in the previous two games — at the break.
The league leaders got the breakthrough at the start of the second half when Mbappe picked out the former Manchester United midfielder Herrera to fire home.
Mbappe, who moved from the left wing to a more central role in the second half, then benefited from a very soft penalty award when he went down under pressure from Jean-Charles Castelletto.
The World Cup winner stroked home the penalty for his seventh league goal of the season, all of which have come in the last six matches.
He was then withdrawn and headed straight down the tunnel clutching his right hamstring, but Tuchel said it was nothing to worry about ahead of Wednesday’s key Champions League clash with RB Leipzig in Germany. “It is just fatigue. It’s not an injury,” said Tuchel. “The same for Kean. He had just taken a few knocks.”
Just before Mbappe went off, Nantes won a penalty of their own when Colin Dagba fouled Marcus Coco in the box, but Abdoul Kader Bamba’s effort from 12 yards was saved by Keylor Navas. PSG have conceded just one goal in their seven-game winning run, while Sarabia chipped in after pouncing on Imran Louza’s back-pass to make it 23 goals scored in that time.

Volland off the mark as Monaco thump Bordeaux
Yesterday, Germany international Kevin Volland scored his first goals for Monaco since joining the club in September as Niko Kovac’s side thrashed Bordeaux 4-0. Monaco struck three times in as many minutes through Wissam Ben Yedder, Gelson Martins and Volland in the first half to take control at the Stade Louis II. Volland then grabbed another in the second half as Monaco won for just the second time in six matches to climb up to seventh place. France forward Ben Yedder crashed home a spot-kick on 27 minutes after his header was handled by Pablo, with a penalty awarded despite the ball looping over Benoit Costil and into the net following the deflection.
Martins grabbed his first goal since serving a six-month ban for pushing a referee last season when he lunged at the far post to poke in a Ruben Aguilar cross. And former Bayer Leverkusen forward Volland promptly headed in from a Ben Yedder delivery to end his drought following his 11 million-euro ($13mn) move from Germany.
The 28-year-old tapped in a second on 57 minutes as Martins slid the ball across goal for his unmarked team-mate. Nice moved up to fourth as Patrick Vieira’s team extended their unbeaten domestic run to five games with a 3-0 victory at Angers.
Rony Lopes put Nice ahead on 11 minutes and Pierre Lees-Melou added a second from the spot. Hicham Boudaoui came off the bench to net a third as Nice stayed four points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Metz continued their fine recent form with a 1-0 win at Nimes while Montpellier defeated Saint-Etienne by the same scoreline courtesy of a goal from Englishman Stephy Mavididi.
Reims beat Strasbourg 2-1 while Dijon remain the only team without a victory following a goalless draw at home to Lorient.

Ligue 1 results
Saint-Etienne 0 Montpellier 1 (Mavididi 14); Angers 0 Nice 3 (Lopes 12, Lees-Melou 23, Boudaoui 77); Dijon 0 Lorient 0; Nimes 0 Metz 1 (Gueye 15); Reims 2 (Kamara 22-og, Faes 26) Strasbourg 1 (Ajorque 30-pen); Monaco 4 (Ben Yedder 27-pen, Martins 29, Volland 30, 57) Bordeaux 0
Played Saturday: Rennes 2 (Da Silva 65, Aguerd 69) Brest 1 (Honorat 56); Nantes 0 Paris Saint-Germain 3 (Herrera 47, Mbappe 65-pen, Sarabia 88)