PSG extend four-point lead over Lens with tight win vs Le Havre

Paris Saint-Germain's Bradley Barcola celebrates scoring with Illia Zabarnyi

Paris Saint-Germain secured their ninth Ligue 1 victory in 10 matches with a hard-fought 1-0 win against Le Havre, consolidating their place at the top of the table in the process.

Following their 5-4 aggregate victory over AS Monaco in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) on Tuesday night, PSG turned their attention back to Ligue 1 here.

Luis Enrique’s side had ambitions of opening up a four-point lead at the top after RC Lens drew 1-1 against RC Strasbourg on Friday night, and Les Parisiens knew anything but three points would be a huge failure.

As such, they looked to hammer home their superiority in the early stages. Achraf Hakimi skimmed the left post with a strike from outside the box in the third minute following a corner, and the returning Lee Kang-in stung Mory Diaw’s palms with a curled effort in the 24th minute.

A period of early dominance eventually led to the breakthrough when Lee found Bradley Barcola with a pinpoint cross, with the Frenchman making no mistake by powering his header into the net.

Lee then missed a golden chance to double his side’s advantage on the stroke of half-time, sidefooting agonisingly wide under no pressure before Dro Fernandez’s first PSG 'goal' was ruled out for offside by VAR.

PSG smelled blood after the break, and Barcola would have doubled his account for the night if he had directed a diving header on target.

Nevertheless, trailing by a single goal, Le Havre knew they were still in the game and fired a warning shot when Issa Soumare’s strike from inside the box drew an outstanding stop out of Matvey Safonov.

Perhaps sensing that the hosts were growing in confidence, Enrique brought on Nuno Mendes and Desire Doue in an attempt to kill the game, and the pair were heavily involved in the final stages.

Key match stats

The former should have scored instead of shooting straight at Diaw, before Doue’s penalty was superbly stopped by the goalkeeper after Lucas Gourna-Douath’s trailing leg brought him down in the area.

Ultimately, the reigning European champions weren’t punished for their wastefulness - they amassed an xG of 3.88 - meaning they are now unbeaten in 12 meetings dating back to 1999.

Defeat for Le Havre, meanwhile, leaves them 13th in the table, although they are still a comfortable nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Match momentum

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