Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored for the first time in five league games, blasting home a penalty as Paris Saint-Germain secured a scrappy 1-0 win at St Etienne to stay four points behind leader Lyon.
The win moves PSG up to second place, level on points and on goal difference with bitter rival Marseille, while St Etienne remains in fourth spot.
Ibrahimovic was kept quiet until the second half, when his 60th-minute spot-kick finally broke St Etienne's stubborn resistance. It was awarded after midfielder Jeremy Clement was adjudged to have handled the ball, with replays showing it struck him just at the top of his right arm.
As he was preparing to take the kick, Ibrahimovic removed some debris thrown onto the pitch and composed himself before shooting hard to the left of goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier, who almost got his fingers to the ball.
Moments earlier, Ruffier saved with his legs after Ibrahimovic latched on to a fine pass from midfielder Marco Verratti and tried to clip the ball over him.
Ibrahimovic, who scored the winning goal away to St Etienne in the League Cup quarterfinals two weeks ago, missed a chance to make it 2-0 in the 70th when he rushed his shot and his strike partner Edinson Cavani hit the crossbar with a neat lob five minutes later.
St Etienne lamented the penalty decision but failed to hit the target once.
Lyon moved four points clear at the top of Ligue 1 with a 2-0 victory over lowly Metz at Stade de Gerland on Sunday.
Hubert Fournier's leaders extended their winning run to seven league matches thanks to goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Corentin Tolisso, although it may have come at a cost with Lacazette forced off through injury.
The defeat leaves Albert Cartier's Metz struggling in the relegation zone after a disappointing run of 10 league matches without victory.
Evian picked up their first Ligue 1 win in seven attempts to edge away from the drop zone with a 1-0 victory over relegation rivals Toulouse.
In a match delayed by 24 hours due to heavy snow in the Haute-Savoie region, Adrien Thomasson scored just four minutes in and that proved enough for a much-needed win as Toulouse's second-half renaissance was cut short by a red card for Pavle Ninkov.
The result sees Evian move above Toulouse and move out of the bottom three.
Caen climbed off the bottom of the Ligue 1 table by producing a shock 4-1 victory at Rennes.
The Normandy side had propped up the standings for much of the season following their promotion but, after putting four past Reims last week, they put mid-table Rennes to the sword by the same scoreline.
Sloan Privat's early opener at the Stade de la Route de Lorient was cancelled out by Benjamin Andre but Rennes had no answer to second-half goals from Lenny Nangis, Julien Feret and Damien Da Silva.