FC Schalke 04 recorded their tenth home success this season with a 3-1 win against Hamburger SV, after SV Werder Bremen had comfortably swept aside Hannover 96 3-0.

The Royal Blues soon recovered from their UEFA Europa League defeat in midweek and opened the scoring after five minutes through Finnish international Teemu Pukki. Christoph Metzelder made it 2-0, before Klaas-Jan Huntelaar added a third from the spot, his 19th league goal of the season. Gojko Kačar gave Hamburg hope shortly before the break, but it was not enough to stop the visitors slumping to their third defeat in four.

Meanwhile, Bremen got back to winning ways following successive Bundesliga defeats. Claudio Pizarro put them in front, before second-half strikes from Sebastian Prödl and Markus Rosenberg secured a comprehensive victory for the hosts.