Given their blistering form, Lens stood in stark contrast to a Nice side that travelled north on the back of eight straight defeats across all competitions, including a midweek elimination from Europe.
And it took just 15 minutes for Lens to obey the formbook, as Edouard benefited from Matthieu Udol’s deflected cross, placing a close-range header beyond Yehvann Diouf at close range to score his fifth match opener inside 25 minutes already this season.
The opening goal also bore some significance for the provider, with it representing Udol’s fourth assist in six league outings.
But after Samson Baidoo and Ruben Aguilar failed to put away promising opportunities, the next highlight of note would be a near-equaliser for the troubled Eagles just a few minutes before the break, when Hicham Boudaoui saw a powerful low shot saved by Robin Risser.
Overall, 1-0 was a fair reflection of Lens’ superiority, and with the Sang et Or winning all six prior league games led at half-time, the omens were good for Pierre Sage’s men.
Not deterred by Risser’s presence, Boudaoui brought out the best in him from distance almost immediately after the break, with a diving save towards the bottom-right corner, keeping Lens ahead.
Even better was to come just moments later, though, when Lens failed to clear the subsequent corner and Isak Jansson hit a piledriver from distance, forcing Risser to palm the ball over with a flying save away to his left.
That proved to be a fleeting storm, though, and Lens began to wrestle back some possession as the hour mark loomed.
Nice struggled from almost the moment Lens chose to step up a gear, and it was the simplest move that seemingly killed off the visitors for good on 57’.
Udol added another assist to his brimming tally by floating in a cross from the left flank for Edouard to theatrically head down and in on the dive to complete his maiden Ligue 1 brace, and everything now pointed to Lens making it 12 victories in their opening 16 Ligue 1 games.
The remainder of the game was little more than a formality, and Lens now have nine points more than their title-winning predecessors of 1997/98 did at the same stage of the season.
While they’ll doubtless be chased all the way by Paris Saint-Germain, Lens can but live in the moment after only their second win in 12 Ligue 1 meetings with Nice. As for the Riviera outfit themselves, there is seemingly no end in sight to their chain of losses, nor their status as the only remaining team yet to gain a single Ligue 1 point after trailing.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Odsonne Edouard (Lens)