Luis Enrique's side had been held to a 1-1 draw against Reims at Parc des Princes 24 hours earlier, offering Marseille the chance to close a 10-point gap. 

However, Marseille was behind early on when Evann Guessand, who has been touted for a move to the Premier League this month, placed the ball past Geronimo Rulli.

Marseille responded to that setback with Mason Greenwood the first to test Nice goalkeeper Marcin Bulka, with that effort followed up with a strike from Adrien Rabiot.

The hosts ended the opening period in the ascendency but were unable to find a leveller, with Valentin Rongier and Quentin Merlin closing out the half with shots from distance. 

Despite their promising end to the first 45 minutes, Marseille was two behind shortly after the interval when Mohamed-Ali Cho was teed up by goalscorer Guessand.

The attacking introductions of Jonathan Rowe, Bilal Nadir and Robinio Vaz threatened to bring Marseille back into the game, but they were unable to make the desired impact.

The defeat keeps Roberto De Zerbi's side 10 points behind PSG, with another huge clash against Lyon up next.

But Lyon also stuttered at Stade de la Beaujoire, Mostafa Mohamed netting a 90th-minute leveller to earn Nantes a 1-1 draw against the European-chasing side.

Lyon has now recorded four consecutive draws in all competitions, a first since between March and April 1996 (six), despite taking a 10th minute lead in the contest.

Ernest Nuamah rounded off a fine attacking move with a simple finish past Anthony Lopes after being found by the on-rushing Nicolas Tagliafico's smart pull back.

With Lyon seemingly heading for an important three points, Mohamed popped up with the equaliser late on, guiding Moses Simon's inch-perfect cross home with a fine header.

Lyon has won none of its past four away matches in all competitions for the first time since between May and October 2023, and stays sixth in Ligue 1.

In the early kick-off, Brest claimed a fourth-straight league victory by edging Le Havre 1-0.

Ludovic Ajorque scored the only goal of the game, netting his fourth strike in his past five Ligue 1 outings, as many as he had managed in his previous 35 league matches.

Brest jas now won nine of its first 19 matches this Ligue 1 season, only doing better at this stage last season with 10, with its attention turning to Europe now this week.

Eric Roy's side sits 13th on the 36-team UEFA Champions League table, only a point from the automatic knockout places, but face holder Real Madrid in its final league game.