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Saint-Etienne climbed into the top three with a stunning 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Sunday.
PSG travelled to 'La Chaudron' without injured playmaker Bonventure Kalou and the Ivory Coast star was sorely missed as the capital club failed to carve out a single clear-cut chance despite dominating the opening exchanges.
Saint-Etienne appeared content to hit their guests on the counterattack with their offensive trio of Frédéric Piquionne, Pascal Feindouno and Frédéric Mendy ably supported by captain Julien Sablé and David Hellebuyck from midfield.
Les Verts eventually took the lead on 37 minutes when Piquionne chested the ball down into the path of Mendy whose left-foot shot cannonned off PSG defender Bernard Mendy, completely wrongfooting Jérome Alonzo deputizing for Lionel Letizi in the Paris goal.
The second half began in much the same manner as the first with a PSG side comfortable on the ball but completely void of ideas in attack and unable to threaten Jérémy Janot's goal - which hadn't been breached at home for a record 1408 minutes.
Another blistering Saint-Etienne counterattack brought the visitors unstuck for a second time.
The irrepressible Feindouno led the charge up the right flank and had all the time in the world to pick out Piquionne who tapped the ball past the hapless Alonzo from just four metres out.
The second goal knocked the wind out of the Parisians, who showed little to back up their preseason billing as a potential rival to Lyon's Ligue 1 dominance.
In contrast Saint-Etienne were in buoyant mood with the impressive Didier Zokora winning everything in midfield and Feindouno's one-man show terrorising firstly Jean-Hugues Ateba and then his replacement at left-back Boukary Dramé.
Feindouno himself completed the rout and capped off a man of the match performance in the 79th minute with a rare headed goal from a Sablé corner - his 30th in Ligue 1.
The win sees Les Verts leap-frog PSG into third place on goal-difference with 13points apiece, a solitary point behind Le Mans and four points adrift of leaders Lyon after seven games.
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