Pierre-Alain Frau scored in the eighth minute of a largely uneventful match under the watchful eye of 20-year-old Nilmar, who scored the final goal of Brazil's 6-0 victory in Haiti 10 days ago on his senior debut for his country.

Frau scored past Lille keeper Tony Sylva on his second attempt after a cross from the right by Sidney Govou after Eric Abidal had hit the crossbar.

Lyon, who fielded their Brazilian defender Cris for the first time, nearly extended their lead from a Juninho corner on the right which found the head of Govou though Sylva did well to fend off the danger.

Lille were largely beaten by physical domination of Lyon in midfield and never really looked like getting an equaliser.

Lyon look like they have a bargain in the 5.7-million-euro capture of Nilmar who is scheduled to have medical tests on Sunday and Monday before putting pen to paper.

Metz had a rousing 3-1 victory at Marseille to go top of the table after four matches mainly thanks to two goals from their Cameroon international Herve Tum.

Marseille were not looking confident or assured in any department on the field and the eastern French side made the most of it to dominate the match.

Striker Tum got Metz off the mark with a header from an excellent Franck Ribery freekick in the 11th minute though Peguy Luyindula equalised after 26 minutes.

Marseille were particularly weak during the second half but Metz did not confirm their domination till the last couple of minutes when Franck Signorino scored in the 89th minute and Tum scored his second and Metz's third in the final minute.

In other matches, Monaco drew 1-1 at Lens, Auxerre beat Caen 1-0, plus Nantes drew 2-2 with Toulouse and Strasbourg drew 1-1 against first division newcomers Istres. And Bordeaux beat Sochaux 2-0 and Ajaccio drew 1-1 with Rennes.

Metz have 10 points from four matches to lead by a point from Auxerre, and by two points from Lens, Toulouse, Bastia and Lyon.