PARIS – Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a late header as runaway leader Paris Saint-Germain overcame a poor first half to beat Toulouse 1-0 and move provisionally 23 points clear at the top of the French league on Saturday.

Lurking near the back post, Ibrahimovic lost his marker on a corner to nod in from close range in the 73rd minute for his league-leading 16th goal.

Moments earlier, he was fortunate not to be booked for diving after theatrically tumbling inside the penalty area.

Chasing a fourth straight title, PSG has won 18 and drawn three of 21 games to completely crush the competition, but this was not a convincing performance against a side placed 19th.

“Toulouse caused us problems on every counterattack,” PSG coach Laurent Blanc said. “At halftime, I told my players that we also need to win games like this. When you’re dominating it’s easy, but this wasn’t the case.”

Toulouse went close to scoring when striker Wissam Ben Yedder struck the crossbar with a rasping drive in the first half.

The sides meet again in the French Cup in Paris on Tuesday, and Blanc has a growing injury list. Already without winger Angel di Maria and centre half Thiago Silva, Blanc watched midfielder Javier Pastore and defender Marquinhos limp off.

“It’s a calf strain,” Pastore said. “It’s not serious but I preferred to come off before it became worse.”

Ben Yedder had eight goals in his past five games, and caused problems throughout with his sharp movement.