Brazilian striker Tullio De Melo scored deep in injury time to give French league leader Lille a scrappy 1-0 win at last-place Arles on Saturday.
Lille struggled throughout and almost conceded a goal in the 79th minute but goalkeeper Mickael Landreau kept out Gael Germani's effort with a fine save.
Lille, however, fought until the very end and De Melo headed home Ludovic Obraniak's cross to give his team a precious win.
Lille has 31 points from 17 games, one more point than Paris Saint-Germain, which won 2-1 at Valenciennes.
Brazilian midfielder Nene scored twice to give PSG a third consecutive win in all competitions. Antoine Kombouare's team dominated possession in the first half but lacked the finishing touch to break down the Valenciennes defense.
PSG finally went ahead in the 47th minute when Nene collected Guillaume Hoarau's pass in the box to beat goalkeeper Fabien Penneteau with a low angled shot inside the post.
Cameroon striker Vincent Aboubakar leveled in the 82nd but Nene put PSG back in front two minutes later with a tame 20-meter shot which dipped under the crossbar.
Nene has 15 goals in all competition this season.
Since losing three straight games at the end of August, PSG has lost only once in the last 20 games overall, scoring 13 in the last five.
The match also marked Kombouare's return to his former club. Kombouare was in charge of Valenciennes from 2005-09 and helped the club gain promotion to the topflight.
Marseille's poor run of results in the league continued as the defending champion was held to 1-1 at Auxerre. Didier Deschamps' team has failed to win its last three games and trails Lille by four points.
Marseille got off to a strong start and opened the scoring in the 8th minute when Loic Remy headed home from close range but conceded a penalty that Valter Birsa coolly converted in the 40th minute after Stephane M'Bia was red-carded for a foul on Julien Quercia.
Elsewhere, it was: Brest 0, Montpellier 0; Nancy 1, Sochaux 0; Lorient 3, Lens 0 and Caen 0, Nice 0.
Lorient waited 50 minutes before pulling ahead at home when Morgan Amalfitano opened the scoring with a powerful strike into the top corner which concluded a swift counterattack.
Lynel Darcy Kitambala doubled his team's lead six minutes later from the rebound after Lens goalkeeper Vedran Runje failed to hold on to Amalfitano's shot.
Arnold Mvuemba struck the third in the 74th with a curled shot.
Lyon hosts Toulouse on Sunday while Saint-Etienne travels to Monaco and Bordeaux faces Rennes.
