Achraf Hakimi stepped up when it mattered, netting a brilliant hat-trick on Friday as a heavily rotated Paris Saint-Germain crushed bottom-placed Le Havre 5-1 in Ligue 1.
Rennes, PSG’s closest Ligue 1 challengers, fell 5-2 at Nice, letting the champions move four points clear at the top of the table with 20 points from nine matches.
Lille will welcome Lens later on Friday and could cut the gap to PSG by two points with a win, while Monaco can achieve the same by beating Paris FC on Sunday.
Le Havre made a contest of it early on, suddenly pouring forward in numbers while the PSG defense scrambled back, before striker Josh Maja struck the opener against the run of play at 18 minutes.
Chasing a second, Le Havre were sliced open by a swift move as Belgian winger Mika Godts latched onto a Hakimi through-ball to equalize on 26 minutes.
Two minutes later Hakimi left the defense behind, and his searing low strike just inside the near post made it 2-1.
The European champions were tearing the Normandy side apart, and Hakimi grabbed his second with a powerful free-kick that curled low beyond goalkeeper Arnaud Bodard to put PSG 3-1 ahead.
On a lightning counter, the hosts threw everyone forward in a brave but naive attempt to get back into the match, only for PSG to surge back and catch the home goalkeeper far off his line with no defender in his half.
Senny Mayulu rounded the horrified keeper, and his composed long-range finish found the net with nobody in the box, effectively ending the contest just after the hour mark.
Hakimi completed his hat-trick by threading a shot through a crowd of players on 69 minutes, and he had barely finished celebrating in triumph when coach Luis Enrique substituted him.
“He’s a striker when we have the ball. He’s free to do that when we are in possession but obliged to defend when we aren’t,” said Luis Enrique.
The Spanish coach left stars Desire Doue, Vitinha, and Joao Neves on the bench, while Ousmane Dembele and Georgian attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia were absent through injury.
