An entertaining encounter looked as if it had got off to a rapid start when Lille goalkeeper Berke Ozer made a meal of Rayan Fofana’s header, allowing it to trickle over the line, only to be saved by an offside call.
At the other end, the visitors came close to capitalising on that reprieve through Felix Correia, who saw his effort firmly palmed away by Robin Risser before Hakon Arnar Haraldsson horribly miscued the follow-up from a promising position.
After an evenly-matched opening period, the game had its breakthrough goal in the 28th minute in strange circumstances, as confusion reigned when a low corner delivery made its way inside the far post through a sea of bodies, with Wesley Said leading the celebrations for Lens.
The clouds of flare smoke and heavy rain weren’t affecting the spectacle on the pitch, as both teams continued to pose an attacking threat during a full-throttle first half. However, it was Les Sang et Or who were the more clinical of the two sides, taking a two-goal advantage into the break thanks to a composed curling finish from Florian Thauvin after yet another quick transition.
Having netted a league-high 13 goals in their first four Ligue 1 fixtures, Lille’s attacking prowess wasn’t in question, but their defence was looking increasingly suspect as they fell further behind shortly after the restart.
Once again, Ozer didn’t cover himself in glory, parrying a rifled effort from Ruben Aguilar into a dangerous zone, which allowed Fofana to turn the rebound home from close range.
A VAR check showed there was no foul in the build-up, giving Lens further momentum as an electric atmosphere gripped the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. A one-sided second half could have seen further goals for the hosts, with Thauvin twice coming close to a brace and substitute Morgan Guilavogui guiding a shot wide, but the result was firmly in Lens’ grasp by this point.
Lille had netted five times from the 90th minute onwards this season, yet that statistic was of little comfort given Lens’ comfortable lead as they saw out the remainder of the contest.
Victory takes Lens within a point of their defeated opponents, who themselves miss the chance to climb to the top of the early standings, albeit having played one more game than current leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Bruno Genesio’s side could have made it four top-flight wins in five to start a season for the first time since 1952/53, but instead see their three-game winning streak come to an end on what proved to be a disappointing night for Les Dogues.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Wesley Said (Lens)