Despite being held 1-1 by Reims, Sedan go into the Christmas break as 'winter champions' after their rivals all slipped up.

Mansour Boutabout put the leaders a goal up after 40 minutes at the Stade Louis Dugauguez on Friday, but they were pegged back by Alexandre Barbier's strike no more than five minutes later to concede their fourth straight 1-1 draw.

They seem to have lost their way in recent weeks, but at least they now have time to regroup and can console themselves with the fact that the chasing pack all failed to take advantage. Indeed, the match between second-placed Valenciennes and fourth-placed Lorient also finished 1-1 on Sunday, meaning Les Sangliers will start the new year with a one-point lead at the top.

There was disappointment for Bastia in third, too, particularly since the Corsican club were celebrating their centenary in the company of club legends including 1970s Dutch master Johnny Rep. Their presence was not enough to see the current team break down visitors Montpellier, though, and the game ended goalless. Likewise, fifth-placed Créteil went down 1-0 away to Grenoble on Monday.

The real winners in Week 19 were Caen, whose 3-1 victory took them up to sixth in the standings, an incredible turnaround given their atrocious start to the season. That win notably took them above Brittany rivals Châteauroux, who lost 2-1 away to Gueugnon.

In the bottom half of the table, Guingamp dragged themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time since Week 11 thanks to a 2-1 triumph over basement-outfit Sète – a result that cost Sète boss Claude Calabuig his job. Guingamp are far from being out of danger, however, as they share the same number of points (20) as 18th-placed Istres – who drew Le Havre 1-1 – and Clermont in 19th.

Sedan 1-1 Reims
Scorers: Boutabout (S) 40, Barbier (R) 45

Gueugnon 2-1 Châteauroux
Scorers: Sylla (G) 30, Boukari (C) 70, Hauw (G) 72

Caen 3-1 Brest
Scorers: Samson (C) 9, 54 Malm (B) 11 pen, Florentin (C) 69

Dijon 2-1 Amiens
Scorers: Casartelli (A) 28 pen, Laurent (D) 77, Esteves (D) 88 pen

Istres 1-1 Le Havre
Scorers: Faure (I) 24 Hoarau (L) 76

Clermont 1-0 Laval
Scorer: Buengo 20

Sète 1-2 Guingamp
Scorer: Robert (G) 6, Gonzalez (G) 52, Aulanier (S) 90+1 pen

Bastia 0-0 Montpellier

Lorient 1-1 Valenciennes
Scorers: Bourhani (L) 31 pen, Savidan (V) 78

Grenoble 1-0 Créteil
Scorer: Akrour 41