Montpellier headed into their match at Stade du Hainaut on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run in the league and, even though they were away from home, they were highly fancied over their struggling opponents.
But while they had the best of the first half, opportunities from Olivier Giroud and Younes Belhanda failed to find the back of the net, while Foued Kadir and Remi Gomis linked well to create the best early chance for the hosts.
Kadir was involved again early in the second half, and this time his impact finished in the Algerian's second goal of the season.
As expected, Montpellier fought back but impressive performances from Valenciennes goalkeeper Nicolas Penneteau and defender David Ducourtioux kept the leaders at bay.
PSG joined Montpellier on points after their 1-0 win at Sochaux, as Antoine Kombouare's side won away for just the second time since September.
Lively forward trio Jeremy Menez, Javier Pastore and Kevin Gameiro caused problems for Sochaux all match, and it was Gameiro who got the game's only goal after 20 minutes.
He had to control a long ball before launching a terrific effort past Sochaux shot-stopper Teddy Richert - with a little help from the post - for his 10th goal of the season in all competitions for PSG.
Other results saw Stade Rennes draw 1-1 with Brest while Nancy and Ajaccio also shared the spoils, with Daniel Niculae getting an injury-time equaliser for the former in a 2-2 draw.
Goals to Banel Nicolita and Bakary Sako helped Saint-Etienne to a 2-0 home success over Caen, and Umut Bulut's last-gasp strike handed Toulouse a 2-1 win over Evian TG.
Marseille and Bordeaux played out a goalless draw.
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