(Reuters) - Gaetan Laborde scored two of Montpellier's three second-half goals on Sunday as they cruised past Olympique de Marseille and into second place in France's Ligue 1.
Laborde scored in the 51st and 62nd minutes and Paul Lasne added a third eight minutes later to give the home side an unassailable lead.
The victory was the third in a row for the 2012 champions and extends their unbeaten league run to 11 matches.
The three points puts them second ahead of Lille on goal difference, 11 points behind Paris St Germain who have won all 12 of their games so far.
Elsewhere on Sunday, St Etienne beat Angers 4-3 in a thriller, with Romain Hamouma coming off the bench to grab the winner in the 89th minute.
There were also plenty of goals in Sunday's other game between Nantes and Guingamp but all five came from Nantes as they chalked up their third straight Ligue 1 victory under new coach Vahid Halilhodzic.
Emiliano Sala took his goal tally to seven in four games with a double, and Valentin Rongier, Abdoulaye Toure and Andrei Girotto added one each to leave Guingamp rooted to the bottom of the table.
(Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Ian Ransom)