Rennes 0 Marseille 1: Cabella's first goal continues visitors' fine form

Remy Cabella scored his first goal for Marseille to give his side a deserved 1-0 victory at Rennes in Ligue 1 on Thursday.

The visitors have now only lost one of their last seven league matches and move up to eighth in the table, leapfrogging their opponents, who continue a dreadful run of results having won only one of their last 11.

Cabella – the on-loan Newcastle United attacking midfielder – scored an impressive goal in the 21st minute, which proved to be decisive.

After receiving a pass from Mauricio Isla, he cut inside past two players and fired in a right-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area which deflected off defender Mexer and found the far corner.

Rennes struggled as an attacking force, but could have equalised when Ousmane Dembele seized on a mistake from Benjamin Mendy but shot into side netting from tight angle when he had team-mates better placed in the middle.

After the break, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou saw his shot saved by the legs of Benoit Costil after the pace of Cabella had set up a counter-attack, before Michy Batshuayi headed over as Marseille tried to put the result to bed.

Benjamin Andre's thumping header was impressively saved by Steve Mandanda after Steven Moreira's cross from the right as Rennes mustered their only effort on target in the 77th minute, but the away side were worthy winners.