There are statements, and there are afternoons like this. Paris FC did not merely beat Nice at the Stade Jean Bouin on Sunday; they dismantled them, brick by patient brick, and by the time Vincent Marchetti rolled home the third in the closing minutes the scoreboard read like a verdict. Three goals, none conceded, and a place at the very top of Ligue 1 to show for it.

Lassine Sinayoko, Samir Chergui and Marchetti supplied the finishes, but the story ran deeper than the names on the sheet. This was control. Paris FC took the lead early, doubled it early in the second half, and finished the visitors off with the game already lost, never once giving Nice the sniff of a way back into it.

For a side still finding its feet in the top flight, it was the kind of performance that changes the conversation. No jitters, no scramble — just a team that knew exactly what it wanted and took it. Nice, by contrast, left the capital with more questions than answers and a season already threatening to tilt the wrong way.

Sinayoko sets the tone

The breakthrough arrived in the 21st minute, and it came from the spot. Sinayoko stepped up with the composure of a man who had already decided where the ball was going, planting his right-footed penalty low into the bottom-left corner and leaving the goalkeeper rooted. One-nil, and the tempo of the afternoon was set.

From that moment Paris FC played with the calm of a side ahead on their own terms. They did not chase a second before the interval, content instead to keep Nice at arm's length, to move the ball and make the visitors run. The lead never looked fragile because it never came under serious threat.

It was the sort of goal that steadies a young team. A penalty converted without fuss, a scoreline that rewarded the early pressure, and a crowd given something to lean into. Nice, meanwhile, went in at the break knowing they had been second best and offering little to suggest that would change.

Chergui and Marchetti seal it

Whatever Nice hoped to build in the interval was undone within six minutes of the restart. Ilan Kebbal did the spadework, and Chergui did the rest, striking cleanly from the centre of the box with his right foot and steering the ball into the bottom-right corner. Two-nil, and the contest was effectively over.

With the cushion secured, Paris FC managed the game with a maturity that belied their status as newcomers. They saw off Nice's flickers of resistance, kept the shape tight and the goal untroubled, and waited for the moment to twist the knife. It came in the 89th minute, Patrick Zabi teeing up Marchetti to sweep in a left-footed finish, once more into the bottom-right corner.

Three goals, three different scorers, three assists split among the supporting cast — the balance of it spoke to a team pulling in the same direction. The clean sheet mattered just as much. Not once did Nice force Paris FC into panic, and the hosts walked off with a scoreline that flattered nobody but themselves.

Summit for the newcomers

The reward is the summit. Paris FC sit top of Ligue 1 on four points from two matches, one win and one draw, three goals scored and not one conceded. For a club at this altitude, that ledger is close to perfect — miserly at the back, ruthless in front of goal, and unbeaten with it.

Two games is a small sample, but momentum has a way of feeding itself. A side that keeps clean sheets and takes its chances tends to accumulate points, and Paris FC have started the campaign playing exactly that way. The task now is to prove this was no flash in the pan but the shape of things to come.

There is danger in reading too much into an August table, and the men at the Stade Jean Bouin will know it. But there is also no substitute for the confidence a result like this instils. Top of the league, unbeaten, and hard to break down — a foundation any club would take.

Nice searching for answers

For Nice, the trip to Paris was a chastening one. They sit 17th on a single point, still without a win, still without a goal, and now three conceded with nothing to show at the other end. Two matches gone and the pattern is already an uncomfortable one for a club with loftier ambitions.

The concern is not simply the defeat but the manner of it. Beaten by a penalty, undone again just after half-time, and picked off late — at no stage did Nice impose themselves or threaten to turn the tide. A goalless attack and a leaking defence make for a grim combination this early in the season.

The remedy will need to come quickly. Confidence is a fragile currency in the opening weeks, and Nice cannot afford to let this loss harden into a habit. A goal, a win, a clean sheet — any of them would do to arrest the slide before it gathers pace.

For now, though, the afternoon belongs entirely to Paris FC. They came to make a point and made it emphatically, three goals to none, top of Ligue 1, and every reason to believe the climb is only beginning.