The 124th derby among the sour competitors did little to indicate either that Lyon can force their manner into competition for a European region or that Saint-Etienne can get away the foot of the Ligue 1 desk.
Lyon climbed to tenth, six factors at the back of 0.33-location Marseille, beforehand of the relaxation of the weekend furnishings.
Saint-Etienne's 7th instantly loss left them six factors away from safety.
Lyon will face sterner checks inside the coming week as they take on five groups above them: Marseille, Monaco, Nice, Lens and Lille.
Health regulations meant the derby changed into played in front of just 5,000 spectators in a stadium that holds 60,000.
Even at domestic in opposition to the last area group, Lyon performed Dembele as a sole striker but he did simply sufficient to win the game.
Dembele turned into added down by means of Timothee Kolodziejczak within the 15th minute and then converted the penalty.
"It's an vital and deserved result," stated Lyon coach Peter Bosz, earlier than including: "The crew were given worried due to the fact we couldn't score the second one goal. Against appropriate teams we have usually performed nicely, but we have misplaced towards supposedly weaker combatants. We are conceding fewer probabilities however we want to score extra and play better, for sure."
Pascal Dupraz the Saint-Etienne educate stated his team struggled.
"It become too terrible," he said. "It was better after 1/2-time however not technically coherent enough to put Lyon in extra problem."
