Goals Andre-Pierre Gignac, Andre Ayew and Dimitri Payet have been enough to propel Marseille back to the top of the Ligue 1 table, as they rallied to beat Metz 3-1 at the Stade Velodrome this evening.

Met'z Gaetan Bussmann went close for the visitors in the opening stages of the game with an effort that flew past the left post from inside the box, before Florent Malouda forced a good stop from OM keeper Steve Mandanda.

Having soaked up enough pressure in the first 45 minutes, the hosts opened the scoring with what was arguably their first chance of the game, when Gignac made no mistake with a header from Payet's cross on the stroke of half time.

Metz weren't too downbeat about the situation and they came out of the traps quickest in the second period, the in-form Malouda crunching home an effort from outside of the box to bring his side level at 1-1 with just a minute of the half played.

However, the home side showed their determination to move back into pole position when striker Ayew put his side back in front in the 59th minute following a drilled effort from a corner.

The hosts confirmed all three points in injury time when the creative Payet was played in by Rod Fanni, and he made no mistake by drilling into the bottom corner with his right to leave the final score at 3-1