Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben both scored twice as Bayern, who had lost three of their last five league matches before today, returned to form with a convincing victory over Bremen, who lost Aaron Hunt to an 80th-minute red card.

Ribery opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, with Markus Rosenberg equalising in the 52nd minute.

Robben pushed Bayern back ahead with a penalty in the 69th minute and Ribery struck for a second time in the 77th to make it 3-1.

Robben converted a second time from the spot in the 83rd minute.

Erstwhile leaders Borussia Dortmund were held to a 1-1 draw by fellow high-fliers Borussia Monchengladbach as both sides slipped behind Bayern at the summit.

Robert Lewandowski put Dortmund in front in the 40th minute but Mike Hanke levelled in the 72nd minute.

Freiburg recovered from an own goal to secure a 1-1 draw against Hannover thanks to a second-half strike by Papiss Demba Cisse.

Hannover grabbed the lead in the 44th minute when Felix Bastians put through his own net, but Cisse spared their blushes with his equaliser in the 67th minute.

Kaiserslautern were also thankful for an own goal as they held on for a 1-1 draw at home to Hertha Berlin.

Hertha defender Roman Hubnik gave Lautern the lead with an own goal after just five minutes before Raffael equalised in the 14th minute.

Mainz stormed back from a two-goal deficit in the final 20 minutes to earn a 2-2 draw at struggling 10-man Wolfsburg.

Mario Mandzukic and Alexander Madlung gave Wolfsburg a 2-0 lead with goals in the 10th and 41st minutes, but Andreas Ivanschitz converted a penalty in the 70th minute to pull a goal back and give his side a chance.

And Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting made sure they took it, equalising on 81 minutes.

Any chance Wolfsburg had of regaining their lead ended five minutes from time when Makoto Hasebe was given a second yellow card.

In the day's late kick-off, Stuttgart and Cologne played out a 2-2 draw at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

Lukas Podolski and Christian Gentner grabbed two goals apiece in a 2-2 draw - the fifth game to end all square in the Bundesliga today.

Podolski opened the scoring for Cologne from the penalty spot on 15 minutes with Gentner levelling on 29 minutes and putting Stuttgart 2-1 up on 35 minutes.

Podolski struck again in the 88th minute to rescue a point for his side.