The victory is the fourth in a row for Marseille, who raised its tally to 36 points in third place, 4 points behind Lens II and ahead of Monaco by 3 points.
Marseille opened the scoring at the beginning of the second half by the Portuguese Nuno Tavares (47), before adding the second through friendly fire by Maxim Esteve (61), and the goal to reduce the difference to Montpellier came late through Tigi Savanier (90 + 1 from a penalty kick).
The referee sent off Tavares three minutes before the end of the match.
Lille, the champions of the season before last, failed to get close to the top teams by falling into a 1-1 draw at home with Reims.
Lille remained seventh with 30 points, 3 points behind fourth-placed Monaco.
Canadian Jonathan David opened the scoring for the night following 32 minutes, raising his tally to 10 goals this season and in third place in the scorers’ ranking, but the Swede Jens Kagost equalized for Reims 11 minutes before the end of the match.
On the other hand, Reims XI maintained its unbeaten record in the last nine matches since it took over as coach Will Steele.
Later, Ren meets Nice at the end of the stage.
