Sub Ninga's quick-fire hat-trick sends Angers second

Ninga, who joined the club from second-tier Caen in August, put Angers in the lead with less than a quarter of an hour remaining before adding two more goals by the 89th minute to clinch their first win over Saint-Etienne in 43 years.

The defeat at Stade Raymond Kopa leaves Les Verts a point above the relegation zone with Ghislain Printant's outfit having failed to win since the opening day of the season.

Stephane Moulin's men, who finished 13th in the league last season, have claimed four wins from their opening six fixtures to pull level on 12 points with leaders Paris Saint-Germain and third-placed Nice, who beat Dijon 2-1 on Saturday.

"Casimir made a thundering impact. I truly congratulate him because he's worked a lot since arriving at the club," Moulin said.

"The second half perfectly resembles what we have been doing since the start of the season. It's a little bit new but it corresponds perfectly to what we're trying to do," he added.

Arnaud Nordin had put the visitors into the lead after 34 minutes, nodding home a Mathieu Debuchy cross.

The home side equalised three minutes into the second half as substitute Mathias Pereira poked a through-ball for Pierrick Capelle to finish.

Ninga, who has 18 caps for Chad, scored his first goal for his new club after 78 minutes, heading in a floated Thomas Mangani cross, 10 minutes after coming on for Capelle.

His second of the proceedings came with six minutes to play when he side-footed past a helpless Stephane Ruffier.

The striker completed the rout in the final minute of normal time, beating Ruffier after Sada Thioub's low cross, to claim his first hat-trick since October 2016.

- Wasteful Rennes -

Earlier on Sunday, Rennes missed out on the chance to move top of the table ahead of champions Paris Saint-Germain with a 1-1 draw with Lille that leaves them fourth.

Midfielder Adrien Hunou equalised in the second half for the home side in Brittany after French youngster Jonathan Ikone opened the scoring, but couldn't find the breakthrough.

The late equaliser denied Lille their first away win this campaign in a run which included a 3-0 defeat by Ajax in the Champions League.

Later on Sunday, PSG travel to Lyon in the pick of the weekend's games after an impressive 3-0 midweek victory over Real Madrid.