Bacher, Athekame and Nuamah score as Lyon beat bottom side Auxerre 3-1

Lyon led 2-0 inside 31 minutes and never looked like giving it back. Auxerre, already winless after two rounds, pulled one goal back and conceded a third anyway.

Felix Bacher opened the scoring at 28', Zachary Athekame doubled it three minutes later, Cameron Archer replied for Auxerre just before half-time, and Ernest Nuamah restored the two-goal cushion early in the second half. Final score: 3-1.

Control from start to finish

Lyon had 63.6% of the ball and more than double Auxerre's shot count, 21 to 8. It was the kind of afternoon where the away side's one goal barely dented the pattern of the game.

Match facts

• 28' — Felix Bacher (Lyon)
• 31' — Zachary Athekame (Lyon)
• 42' — Cameron Archer (Auxerre)
• 53' — Ernest Nuamah (Lyon)

What's next

Lyon move to 2nd on 7 points, inside the Champions League places behind Monaco only on goal difference. Auxerre stay bottom of Ligue 1 on 0 points from three defeats, already in the relegation zone ahead of Matchday 4.

Lyon's unbeaten run kept growing

This win over Auxerre turned out to be the middle leg of a longer run. Lyon followed it with a 0-0 draw away at fellow unbeaten side Paris FC in matchday 4, then thrashed early pace-setters Rennes 4-0 at the Groupama Stadium in matchday 5 — a run of three wins and two draws without a single defeat through five rounds. That form has lifted them to 2nd in Ligue 1 on 11 points, behind only Monaco, with the best defensive record in the division: just two goals conceded in five matches, fewer than any other side in the table.

Auxerre's response came two matchdays later

For Auxerre, this defeat was the third of three straight losses to open the season — after 2-5 at Lens and 1-3 at home to Angers — and it left them bottom of Ligue 1 without a point. The turnaround took another matchday to arrive. Cameron Archer's goal at 74' beat Nice 1-0 in matchday 4, Auxerre's first win of the campaign, and manager Will Still followed it with a second straight win in matchday 5, coming from behind to beat Brest 2-1: Archer levelled a minute into the second half and a Raphaël Le Guen own goal completed the turnaround at 83'.

"It's also important to be able to tell each other when things aren't good at all! Our first half was completely missed."

— Will Still, Auxerre manager, at half-time during the 2-1 win over Brest in matchday 5

Back-to-back wins is Auxerre's best run since Still took over in the summer, and it came straight off the back of the three-defeat start that included this loss at the Groupama Stadium.

The table after five rounds

Five matchdays in, the gap that opened on that August night has settled into clear daylight. Lyon sit 2nd on 11 points, eight goals better off than conceded and just two points behind Monaco at the top. Auxerre have climbed to 10th on 6 points, outside every zone — four points and six places above their position after this defeat, and two points clear of the relegation play-off place occupied by Troyes in 16th. Both sides head into matchday 6 with momentum: Lyon unbeaten, Auxerre on a two-match winning run.