Kevin Monnet-Paquet shot home left-footed from Romain Hamouma's pass.

Lille have the second-worst attack in the division but the second-best defence, so perhaps it was no surprise that Lyon struggled to create chances.

A miserable outing for Lyon was ended as Clement Grenier's elbow into the face of Florent Balmont left them with only nine men.

At the Velodrome OM's Belgian forward Batshuayi had come off the bench 15 minutes from the end and headed home a Romain Alessandrini free-kick in the fifth minute of injury-time.

View galleryCaen's forward Saidi Ntibazonkiza celebrates after …
Caen's forward Saidi Ntibazonkiza celebrates after scoring a goal during against Rennes on Febru …
That was a 13th league goal of the season for Batshuayi, putting him behind only Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the Ligue 1 goalscoring charts.

It was only five minutes from time that St Etienne thought they had scored the potentially winning goal that would have sent them above Nice into third place in Ligue 1.

Kevin Monnet-Paquet shot home left-footed from Romain Hamouma's pass.

"Nothing we saw was new -- we created chances, we were close to scoring, we got back into the match just like against Lille (a 1-1 draw), we fought to the end and there was a lot of courage," said Marseille coach Michel.

The draw barely helps either side as St Etienne stay behind Nice on goal difference, while Marseille are 10th and still five points behind in the tight race to qualify for Europe's premier club competition.

Asked if he feared for his job, Michel said: "I don't think about that, never. I think about doing my job and going forwards."

Caen ended a three-match losing streak, as a first goal in French football for Burundian midfielder Saidi Ntibazonkiza saw off Rennes.