Gignac sends champions Montpellier into drop zone

French champions Montpellier remain without a win in Ligue 1 after a late Andre-Pierre Gignac goal saw them fall 1-0 at home to new leaders Marseille on Sunday. The former Toulouse striker struck with 13 minutes remaining at Stade de la Mosson to send Montpellier into the bottom three and lift Marseille to the top of the standings after a third consecutive victory. Gignac is enjoying his best spell at Marseille since joining the club in 2010 and he looked the most likely source of a goal for the visitors throughout. He had a penalty appeal waved away after being brought down by Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa in the 13th minute, and then headed narrowly over from Mathieu Valbuena's cross six minutes before half-time. Montpellier's best opening saw Souleymane Camara head narrowly wide from a Younes Belhanda corner early in the second period, before Gignac pounced. A loose pass from Daniel Congre presented the ball to Morgan Amalfitano and he found Gignac, who turned inside Vitorino Hilton and threaded a low shot between goalkeeper Geoffrey Jourdren and his near post. "We have nine points, which is a good thing, but it's only three matches, so everything is provisional," said Marseille coach Elie Baup. "We'll have to see where we are after 10 matches. That's when we can evaluate our potential." After three matches, Marseille lead the standings by two points from Lyon, Valenciennes and Toulouse. Champions for the first time in their history last season, Montpellier have picked up just one point from their first three games and find themselves in the relegation zone alongside Sochaux and promoted Troyes. "There's a lack of understanding compared to last season, which can be explained by all the changes to the team," said Montpellier coach Rene Girard. "Today we didn't make the right choices and we made stupid mistakes when we shouldn't have." Saint-Etienne blew off the cobwebs in the other afternoon fixture, crushing Brest 4-0 at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to register their first points of the campaign. Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang claimed a brace of goals in each half, book-ending strikes from new signing Romain Hamouma and Josuha Guilavogui. Paris Saint-Germain host Bordeaux in Sunday's late game, when the big-spending club from the capital will be bidding to record their first win of the season after draws against Lorient and Ajaccio. Lille needed a debut goal from right-back Djibril Sidibe to claim a 2-2 draw at Nice on Saturday, which leaves the 2011 champions four points behind Marseille in eighth place.