Lyon set their sights on extending their unbeaten run to six games at the expense of European hopefuls Lens, who had overperformed by many people's standards by sitting fourth in Ligue 1 after 22 games.
Lyon came flying out of the blocks, especially youngster Castello Lukeba, who was lucky to stay on the pitch after a dangerous tackle on Kevin Danso earned him a yellow card.
The fast start paid off for the hosts when their talisman Lacazette scored his 14th league goal of the season courtesy of a beautiful Cherki pass that allowed the Frenchman to find the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
Going into this game Lens had the most pragmatic defence in the league only conceding an impressive 16 goals.
However, the visitors had been struggling to score goals and it was easy to see why when a fantastic Julien Le Cardinal cross picked out Seko Fofana who somehow put his header over the bar from close range.
It took a wonder strike to bring Lens level just before the break, a delicate Florian Sotoca touch found its way to Deiver Machado on the edge of the area who curled a beauty into the top corner to make it 1-1.
To make matters worse for Lyon, Lacazette limped off at half time and new signing Amin Sarr was readied to come on after the restart.
Bradley Barcola came inches away from giving his side the perfect start to the second half after getting in behind the Lens defence but the 20-year-old dragged his effort narrowly wide of the post.
After missing a chance moments before, Cherki deservedly got on the scoresheet at the hour mark finding the bottom corner after Maxence Caqueret won back possession and set his teammate through on goal.
Substitute Moussa Dembele should have put the game to bed for Lyon but was denied one-on-one by Brice Samba who kept his side in the game.
Despite late efforts from Sotoca and Fofana, Lens could not get past a stout Lyon defence who did well to see out the game 2-1 and move up to 35 points, although still 11 points behind fourth place Lens.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Rayan Cherki (Lyon)
