Rennes score twice inside 17 minutes and hold on to beat Angers 1-2

Rennes did their damage early. Two goals inside 17 minutes, one from open play and one an own goal, put Angers behind before the home side had settled into the game.

P. Frankowski scored at 9', J. Lefort turned into his own net at 17', and C. Arcus's reply at 35' was as close as Angers came to a way back. It finished 1-2.

Rennes had more of the ball, Angers had more shots

Rennes controlled 56.3% of possession, but Angers actually out-shot them 19 to 17, without troubling the scoreboard beyond Arcus's goal. Rennes were the sharper side with the ball at their feet, completing 87.6% of their passes to Angers' 82%.

Match facts

• 9' — P. Frankowski (Rennes)
• 17' — J. Lefort, own goal (Rennes)
• 35' — C. Arcus (Angers)

What's next

Angers stay 12th on 3 points after three matchdays. Rennes move to 5th on 7 points, into the Europa League spot, with Matchday 4 up next for both sides.

How each side had opened the season

Angers arrived at this game still without a home win. Their opener was a 0-2 loss to Lille in Davide Ancelotti's first match in charge, Olivier Giroud and Tiago Santos scoring inside the first half-hour despite Angers finishing that game with 20 shots to Lille's far fewer. Matchday 2 brought the first points of the campaign, 3-1 away at Auxerre, Branco van den Boomen opening the scoring inside five minutes before Harouna Djibirin and Amine El Ouazzani put it out of reach late on, with Anthony Lopes needed at the other end to keep the margin that wide.

Rennes had the more chaotic start. Their opener against PSG was moved out of Paris altogether: a fungal infection left the Parc des Princes pitch unplayable, and the LFP switched the fixture to Roazhon Park days before kick-off. Rennes led 2-0 by half-time through Sebastian Szymański and Esteban Lepaul, only for Ferran Torres to come off the bench and score twice, 71' and 82', to salvage a 2-2 draw for the champions. Matchday 2 was almost a repeat: Lepaul and Valentin Rongier had Rennes 2-0 up on newly promoted Le Mans inside 26 minutes, Louis Mafouta pulled Le Mans level with a brace either side of the hour, and it took a stoppage-time Lepaul penalty in the sixth added minute to make it 3-2. Two matches, five goals conceded, and a habit of needing a late intervention to see out a lead Rennes carried straight into the trip to Angers.

How Angers answered it

The home defeat did not knock Angers off course. They drew 0-0 away at Le Havre in Matchday 4, then beat Troyes 2-0 at the Stade Raymond-Kopa in Matchday 5 to make it back-to-back matchdays unbeaten. Across the opening five rounds Angers have won two, drawn one and lost two, scoring six and conceding five for a positive goal difference — a tidier return than the table position alone suggests, with Strasbourg level on points just below them in 8th and PSG only a point ahead in 6th.

Rennes kept winning, then hit a wall at Lyon

Rennes carried the Angers result straight into a run of form. They beat Marseille 1-0 at home in Matchday 4 to make it back-to-back wins, before Matchday 5 brought them back down: a 0-4 defeat away at Lyon, their heaviest loss of the season so far. It is also the only game all season in which Rennes have failed to score. The swing shows in the underlying numbers — eight goals scored and nine conceded through five matchdays, the only side inside the current top six with a negative goal difference.

Where the table stands after five rounds

Angers now sit 7th on 7 points, level on points with 8th-placed Strasbourg and only three points off the Champions League qualifying spot in 4th. Rennes hold 5th on 10 points, occupying the Europa League place, but the gap back to them from the chasing pack is thin: Angers, two places and three points below, are well within range if the form from Matchday 3 repeats itself.