Paris Saint-Germain 3 Lille 1: Emery’s December blues eased

The last month of the year had got off to a bad start for Paris Saint-Germain, but the Ligue 1 leaders proved too strong for Lille.

Paris Saint-Germain shook off their December blues to defeat lowly Lille 3-1 and move 12 points clear at the Ligue 1 summit.

The final month of 2017 had yielded back-to-back defeats for PSG as their unbeaten run from the start of the season came to a halt at the hands of Strasbourg in the top flight, before Tuesday's loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Lille, fresh from consecutive wins, gave PSG a scare in this fixture last season as the hosts needed a last-gasp Lucas Moura goal to secure a 2-1 victory, but their resistance was soon broken at Parc des Princes on Saturday.

Unai Emery's side, without the suspended Neymar, took the lead just before the half-hour mark when Angel Di Maria headed in Kylian Mbappe's cross for only his second league goal of the campaign. 

Javier Pastore doubled their advantage four minutes into the second half, punishing sloppy play at the back from the relegation-threatened visitors.

Anwar El Ghazi provided late hope for Lille, but the result was never really in doubt, with PSG making it 32 Ligue 1 games unbeaten at home, including nine wins on the bounce, as Mbappe restored the two-goal margin of victory by rolling into an open goal.

Dani Alves side-footed an early chance well over the crossbar after bursting into space inside the area.

Lille, whose coach Marcelo Bielsa remains suspended by the club, escaped strong appeals for a PSG penalty when Mbappe went down in the box under pressure from Edgar Ie.

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