Cavani slotted home in the 29th minute from close range and his backheel then assisted Di Maria's fine strike from outside the box three minutes into the second half.

An eighth-straight win for PSG sees them swapping places at the summit with Monaco, but Leonardo Jardim's now second-placed men have the chance to return to the top on Sunday when they take on Lyon away.

And as well as the fact that they will still have a game in hand over the champions after that contest, Monaco have a much better goal difference than Unai Emery's team, who have four more fixtures to go.

After Laurent Pionnier denied Cavani and Blaise Matuidi, that pair combined to break the deadlock, the latter providing the tee-up from which the Uruguayan converted.

Montpellier almost equalised just a few moments later, but Ellyes Skhiri's header came back off the bar, before PSG moved further ahead in spectacular fashion as Di Maria collected Cavani's clever pass and lashed in.

Pionnier and opposite number Kevin Trapp both made saves thereafter, with one of the home stopper's efforts denying Jonathan Ikone, who is on loan at Montpellier from PSG.

Bordeaux rose to fourth with a 2-0 home win over basement boys Bastia.

Malcolm and then Younousse Sankhare netted in the second half, with Bastia's Abdelhamid El Kaoutari subsequently being sent off with 15 minutes remaining.

Lorient moved up from 18th to 16th following their 5-1 home demolition of 15th-placed Metz.

Bernard Casoni's side ran riot after the break, having gone in at half-time level at 1-1 after their opener from Michael Ciani was cancelled out by a Cheick Diabate penalty.

Majeed Waris restored Lorient's advantage soon after the interval, and a quickfire Jimmy Cabot brace and Benjamin Moukandjo strike followed.

Dijon are up one spot from 19th after hanging on for a 3-2 home victory over Angers.

The hosts were 3-0 up at half-time after Lois Diony struck twice, either side of a Pierre Lees-Melou header.

But two goals in quick succession from the away side with just over 20 minutes to go -- a Thomas Mangani penalty and Karl Toko Ekambi effort -- meant Dijon had to endure a tense finale in securing the three points.

Caen are now only a point above the bottom three after a 2-0 defeat at home to Nantes, who sealed all three points thanks to Yacine Bammou's first-half double.

Saturday's other match saw Lille ease to a 3-0 home win over Guingamp. Nicolas de Preville netted early on and then added a penalty before Eder wrapped things up.