Schalke 04 joined Bayern Munich at the top of the table after easing past VfB Stuttgart 3-1 Saturday to collect their fourth straight Bundesliga win. Hosts Schalke took a third-minute lead through Joel Matip's close-range effort and Kyriakos Papadopoulos rose above two defenders at the near post to drill home a header in the 57th. Teenager Julian Draxler finished off a quick passing move involving Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Raul to grab the third goal 10 minutes from time before lackluster Stuttgart notched a late consolation through Shinji Okazaki. Bayern is top on goal difference despite slumping to a 3-1 defeat at Borussia Moenchengladbach Friday, the first game since the league's winter break. Gladbach is third on 36 points, one off the pace and two ahead of fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund. VfL Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath fielded four of his eight new signings in the 1-0 victory over Cologne but it was youth academy product Sebastian Polter who headed in the only goal from a Christian Traesch cross. Werder Bremen missed the chance to close in on the top spots, drawing 0-0 at lowly Kaiserslautern to remain in fifth place on 30 points after 18 games. Nuremberg kicked off their year in style, beating fellow strugglers Hertha Berlin 2-0 to move above their opponents into 12th spot with 21 points. In another relegation battle Freiburg struck two minutes from time through Matthias Ginter to snatch a 1-0 win over bottom club Augsburg while Hoffenheim and Hanover 96 shared a 0-0 draw.
