Leverkusen 1-1 Dortmund
Hannover 1-0 Stuttgart
Hoffenheim 3-0 Nurnberg
Bayern 2-1 Eintracht
Monchengladbach 0-0 Cologne
Mainz 3-0 Freiburg
Hertha 0-0 Wolfsburg
Bochum 1-4 Bremen
Schalke 3-3 Hamburg
Draws all round for the front runners gave Bremen the chance to close up which they did with a routine thumping of Bochum. Leverkusen and Dortmund battled to a goal apiece on Friday night, Lucas Barrios heading Dortmund ahead early on with Manuel Friedrich responding in kind halfway through the second period. Hamburg and Schalke shared six goals in a thriller, which defied the lack of resources Bruno Labbadia has up front. Eljero Elia and Markus Berg have really stepped up to the plate and the two combined for the latter to open the scoring. Piotr Trochowski made it two at the end of a first half the visitors utterly dominated with a wicked free kick, but Schalke came back into it after the break and Kevin Kuranyi headed in Rafinha's cross before David Rozehnal was sent off - last man back, no arguments. From the free-kick, Lukas Schmitz levelled it up. With Schalke pouring forward to try and win it, a quick break led by Ze Roberto gave Berg the chance to put his side back in front which he did. And they looked good for the win until the last minute when Kuranyi headed the sides back level. And Schalke might have won it had Gerald Asamoah not headed straight into the arms of Frank Rost with the last touch of the game.
Bremen came from behind to beat Bochum, Stanislav Sestak putting the Ruhr Valley side ahead in the first few seconds. It didn't last long. Eight minutes, in fact, before Aaron Hunt equalised by getting the final touch on Claudio Pizarro's goal-bound header and Bremen were in front before the break through Marko Marin as he and Hunt tore Bochum a new one. Tim Borowski beat the offside trap for the third and the rout was completed by Mesut Ozil from a narrow angle. There's a gap back to the next few, comprising Bayern, Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg. The champions were held to a goalless draw by Hertha who pick up their first point since opening day while Bayern were indebted to Daniel van Buyten again for a win over Eintracht. Alex Meier put the Frankfurters ahead on the hour, but Arjen Robben scrambled in an equaliser eight minutes later, one of the scrappiest goals the Dutchman will ever score. Two minutes remained when van Buyten headed in the winner at the back post. Hoffenheim saw off Nurnberg fairly comfortable with Christian Eichner blasting in the opener from about half a mile (well, 30 yards or so) out. Vedad Ibisevic is back and firing and he doubled the lead before the break as the Bosnian showed no ill-effects of the knee injury that curtailed his 2008/9 season as he skipped past the defence and finished in style. Franco Zuculini added a third in the second half, also from outside the box. Mainz are also right in the mix after their 3-0 win, started by Andreas Ivanschitz's acrobatic volley. Tim Hoogland added two more after the break.
Stuttgart are still in bother after yet another defeat, this time by Hannover. Didier Ya Konan hit the winner on the half hour, but the star was this ballboy. Gladbach and Cologne didn't do themselves any favours with a 0-0 draw.
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