Lyon, who host mid-table Toulouse on Sunday, have slipped from second to fourth in the standings after losing three league games in succession for the first time since 1993.
They trail second-placed Olympique Marseille, who occupy the last direct Champions League qualifying spot, by four points with seven games left.
"Something is being broken and I am quite worried," Lyon coach Remi Garde told reporters after OL suffered a humiliating 2-0 defeat at lowly Stade Reims last weekend.
"I see there is less enthusiasm in the team and when an effort is being made it is more individual than collective."
Lyon, French football's shining light in the last decade when they won seven league titles in a row from 2001, played in the Champions League for 12 straight years but were in the Europa League this term after finishing fourth in Ligue 1 last season.
To stay in touch with Saint-Etienne and hold off fifth-placed Lille, whose remarkable rise has taken them within a point of Lyon, Garde's struggling team will need Bafetimbi Gomis and Lisandro Lopez to rediscover their scoring touch.
"We will have no pressure because we are coming back from so far behind," Lille midfielder Florent Balmont told the club website.
