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Jacques Santini's Auxerre consolidated their second place with a thumping 4-0 win over visitors Nantes at the Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps.
Santini left Newcastle-target Benjani Mwaruwari on the bench again to pair up Péguy Luyindula and Luigi Pieroni up front, and few could argue with his choice as Auxerre recorded their sixth straight home victory.
Indeed, with just two minutes gone, France international Luyindula latched on to a Benoît Cheyrou through-ball, left Argentinean defender Mauro Cetto for dead and coolly rifled the ball into the net.
It was Luyindula's fifth strike this term and he would go on to add a sixth on 38 minutes, when David Leray's last-gasp tackle on Pieroni set him up to beat Mickaël Landreau from close range.
Nine minutes before that, his Belgian strike partner had made it 2-0 thanks to a fortuitous shot that took a deflection off the unfortunate Pascal Delhommeau. Nantes, meanwhile, were all at sea, with only Habib Bamogo's effort against a post threatening any kind of danger at the other end in the first half.
The former Marseille man was Les Canaris' most dangerous player after the break as well, drawing Fabien Cool into an excellent reaction save with a fierce strike from 30 metres out.
He also sent an effort into the side-netting on 87 minutes, but it was not to be his day and Cheyrou rounded off the scoring with a superb solo effort in stoppage-time after collecting the ball in the centre circle.
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