Bundesliga Bulletin: BVB secure Christmas number one spot

Good week for: Mario Gomez, Stuttgart, Kaan Ayhan, Düsseldorf, Wolfsburg, Marco Reus, Niko Kovac

Bad week for: Hanover and Nuremberg's survival hopes, Christian Streich, Hertha Berlin, Heiko Herrlich

The lowdown:

- Marco Reus is frequently Werder Bremen's tormentor and Saturday was no different. This season's second top scorer in Germany's top flight (top spot belongs to his teammate Paco Alcacer) notched up his 12th career league goal against Bremen. And it proved to be the winner for Borussia Dortmund.

- Despite not touching the ball, Reus also had a key part to play in an inventive opener. He and Raphaël Guerreiro stood over a free kick and had a long chat. The Portuguese midfielder seemed to have messed up the routine but then span back round to whip in a perfect ball for Alcacer to head home.

- It was a very good weekend for two of the Bundesliga's strugglers, meaning those who failed to win at the bottom dropped even further off the pace. First, the good: Fortuna Düsseldorf picked up a massive win over Freiburg, with Kaan Ayhan the hero with a double. Stuttgart had the even tougher task of flipping Hertha Berlin, who took the lead at the Mercedez-Benz Arena. But when you have Mario Gomez in your ranks, there's always a chance and the veteran striker pounced twice as Stuttgart climbed two points clear of dangere.

- But it wasn't all good news for the teams at the bottom. Nuremberg lost at home to Wolfsburg on Friday night and Hanover, who are now rooted to the bottom of the table, were walloped by a resurgent Bayern Munich.

- Niko Kovac is enjoying some respite after what can only be described as a turbulent period. Bayern will be tested a lot more in their final two games before the winter break when they face RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt, but the champions showed flashes of their old selves in Hannover, with the highlight a David Alaba screamer. The best they can manage is second before the winter break, but the Bavarians aren't buried yet.

- Eintracht Frankfurt capped off a perfect Europa League group stage in Rome on Thursday night but they had lost their lost two Bundesliga games - until Bayer Leverkusen came to town. Goals from Danny Da Costa and Filip Kostic rewarded the Eagles for a powerful, energetic display as they remained within touching distance of the top four. 

- On Friday night, Daniel Ginczek scored the opener for Wolfsburg in their win in Nuremberg, meaning the 27-year-old has now had a hand in six of Wolfsburg's last seven goals. The striker's return to fitness and form has sparked life into a Wolfsburg side who have been in the last relegation playoff in the last two seasons but now sit eighth.

- Yussuf Poulsen and Timo Werner both scored twice in RB Leipzig's 4-1 win over Mainz. That takes them to eight and 10 respectively this season. The top nine scorers in the league are made up of two Dortmund players, the two Leipzig strikers, two Dortmund forwards and two from Borussia Mönchengladbach. No prizes for guessing the identity of the other man. 

The quotes:

"Such is football. Last week, you're celebrated, this week you get hit in the back of the head."
-Freiburg's Mike Franz after the surprise defeat to Düsseldorf

"I've noticed that we've turned a corner."
- Niko Kovac after Bayern's battering of Hannover

"Bayern were in top gear today. Their Lamborghini had a full tank and our Trabant was low on fuel."
- Hannover's Pirmin Schwegler

"Augsburg devoured us in the first half... It's important to be mentally strong and we pulled our foot away more often than we put it in front of the ball. That was a bit limp."
- Domenico Tedesco on Schalke's draw in Augsburg

"The lead at the top is neither deceptive nor comfortable."
- Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke takes a measured approach.

The stats:

- Paco Alcacer is only the third player in Bundesliga history to score 11 goals in his first 10 matches, after Horst Hrubesch and Klaus Matischak.

- Timo Werner's 10 goals have come in doubles, he's scored two in five separate games.

- After 682 minutes without a league goal, Mario Gomez' first strike took him to 100 in all competitions for Stuttgart, the club where he started his career. 

- David Alaba is the only defender to have scored in each Bundesliga season since 2010/11.

- Thomas Müller made his 300th Bundesliga appearance on Saturday.

The weird:

Robin Zentner tried to get away with a sneaky one on Sunday afternoon. As Leipzig won a corner, he picked up a spare ball from the side of his goal. When the Red Bulls tried to take it short and quick, Zentner threw the other ball in to the box. His actions stopped the corner but didn't fool the referee, who booked the Mainz keeper.