Lassine Sinayoko's hat-trick beats Marseille 2-3 at the Vélodrome

Lassine Sinayoko needed one minute to open the scoring, and 86 more to finish his hat-trick from the penalty spot. In between, Marseille twice found a way back through Amine Gouiri, and twice it was not enough.

It finished 2-3. Paris FC scored with three of their 18 shots; Marseille had more of the ball, more accurate passing, and still ended up chasing the game from the first minute.

A hat-trick either side of a Marseille fightback

Sinayoko struck at 1' and 19' to put the visitors 2-0 up inside twenty minutes. Gouiri pulled one back at 8' and levelled again at 53', but Paris FC always had an answer, and Sinayoko's 86th-minute penalty settled it for good.

Two sides going in opposite directions

Marseille arrived at matchday 3 on the back of a mixed start: a 4-0 win over Strasbourg on the opening weekend had been followed by a 0-2 defeat away at Monaco, so this was already a chance to get back to winning ways rather than a formality. Paris FC, freshly promoted, were unbeaten in their first two matches — a goalless draw at Troyes on the opening weekend, then a 3-0 win over Nice built on a Sinayoko penalty, a Samir Chergui strike and a late Vincent Marchetti goal. The attacking form that had beaten Nice travelled with the visitors to the Vélodrome, and Sinayoko carried on exactly where he left off.

Match facts

• 1' — Lassine Sinayoko (Paris FC)
• 8' — Amine Gouiri (Marseille)
• 19' — Lassine Sinayoko (Paris FC)
• 53' — Amine Gouiri (Marseille)
• 86' — Lassine Sinayoko, penalty (Paris FC)

What came next for Marseille: a slide into the relegation zone

This defeat proved to be the start of a run rather than a blip. Marseille lost 0-1 at Rennes in matchday 4 — Adrien Thomasson's second-half strike making it three losses in a row — and then fell 1-2 to PSG in Le Classique at the Vélodrome in matchday 5, playing the closing stages with ten men after Timothy Weah's second yellow card. Four defeats in five matches, with the opening-day win over Strasbourg still the only one on the board, dropped Marseille to 17th in Ligue 1 on 3 points from five games — inside the relegation zone that currently runs from 17th to 18th.

What came next for Paris FC: still unbeaten

For Paris FC, beating Marseille was the start of a run that has yet to end. They drew 0-0 at home to Lyon in matchday 4 — six shots to Lyon's two, but no way through — then beat Strasbourg 2-1 in matchday 5, Ismaël Kebbal and Paul Pagis scoring either side of half-time before a late own goal gave the visitors a consolation. Five matchdays in, Paris FC remain one of only three unbeaten sides left in the division, alongside leaders Monaco and second-placed Lyon, and sit 3rd on 11 points — a Champions League qualifying spot, two points behind Monaco at the top.

Five matchdays into the season, the two sides that shared six goals at the Vélodrome sit at opposite ends of the Ligue 1 table. Paris FC's win that night was the first result in what has become an unbeaten run and third place; Marseille's defeat was the first of what became four losses in five games and a place inside the drop zone.