The home side thought they had been given a golden opportunity to take an early lead when Zachary Athekane was adjudged to have been fouled inside the area by Jordan Lefort. However, after being sent to the pitchside monitor, referee Marc Bollengier reversed his decision.
Lyon were on top throughout the first half, and they had two more efforts before the half-hour mark, with Ernest Nuamah and Julien Duranville being denied by Anthony Lopes and the side netting, respectively.
Having dug in to keep the game goalless, Angers very nearly landed a sucker punch 10 minutes before half-time when Prosper Peter’s close-range effort came back off the left post.
This miss would prove costly as the visitors found themselves behind just three minutes later. The SCO failed to clear their lines from a cross into the area and Nuamah collected the loose ball before taking a touch and sending his effort into the bottom left corner to give the hosts a deserved lead.
Lyon would have taken confidence from the fact that they had won the last six league games in which they opened the scoring, and the Gones came close to doubling their advantage just after the hour mark when Duranville’s first-time effort from just inside the area curled narrowly wide of the left post.
Angers had bizarrely either kept a clean sheet or conceded five goals in their last matches, and although the latter never looked likely after a battling display, they never posed enough of a threat to get themselves back into the contest.
Then, when Corentin Tolisso glanced a header home from a corner with five minutes remaining, the home side could finally breathe easy.
The result means Lyon have now won the last eight head-to-head meetings on their home turf, with this latest victory seeing them climb two places to third and just three points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Corentin Tolisso (Lyon)