It was Rennes who had the first notable chance on 15 minutes when Mahdi Camara’s cross was headed wide by Breel Embolo.
Straight after that moment, the visitors struck Jonathan Fischer’s right-hand post through captain Valentin Rongier and his midfield partner Djaoui Cisse.
Metz were under serious pressure and had to contend with an injury to winger Cheikh Sabaly - who was replaced on 19 minutes by Joel Asoro - and the hosts soon found themselves 1-0 down when Mousa Al-Tamari’s cross found Embolo, who laid the ball off for Rongier to drive home superbly from 20 yards, giving Fischer no chance.
At the other end, Jessy Deminguet’s strike from distance went straight down the throat of Lens goalkeeper Brice Samba, but it was Terry Yegbe who had the best chance of the first half for the hosts, guiding the ball over when unmarked from roughly five yards out following a corner, although in the centre-back’s defence, the ball to him was bobbling.
Despite the disappointment about that miss, Metz, who came into this match having won three of their last four games (L1), ended the first half strongly, although they did ride their luck heading into half-time when another Camara cross was diverted against his own crossbar by Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
Shortly after the restart, smoke from pyrotechnics engulfed the Stade Saint-Symphorien, briefly stopping play, but following the resumption, Asoro was in the thick of the action, seeing what would have been the equaliser ruled out for offside.
Metz fans could sense that their team really had the chance to draw level, but they needed to start testing Samba on a more regular basis.
Rennes reminded their opponents that they could still be a danger though, with the quiet Esteban Lepaul missing the target from Przemysław Frankowski’s cross.
Ultimately, Metz could not make the breakthrough despite peppering Samba’s goal late on, meaning that even after their revival over the last month, they remain in the bottom two after missing out on a third successive home win in Ligue 1 for the first time since October 2020.
The result here means that Rennes, marshalled by commanding defender Jeremy Jacquet, have won each of the last eight H2Hs, giving them further hope of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jeremy Jacquet (Rennes)
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