Mainz tops Bremen to take lead in Bundesliga
0 
Mainz extended its undefeated German Bundesliga streak to a club-record nine games after beating Werder Bremen 2-0 yesterday to grab the league lead, leapfrogging Hoffenheim which settled for a 2-2 home draw against Kaiserslautern.
Marcel Risse and Andre Schuerrle scored within eight minutes in the second half to secure Mainz the road victory and give Thomas Tuchel's side a perfect 12 points from four rounds. It is the first time Mainz tops the Bundesliga table.
Also, defending champion Bayern Munich was held to a 0-0 draw at home against FC Cologne, Pavel Pogrebnyak scored a hat-trick as VfB Stuttgart routed Borussia Moenchengladbach 7-0 and 2009 champion VfL Wolfsburg beat Hannover 96 2-0.
After trailing 0-1 at Hoffenheim, Erwin Hoffer scored twice for Kaiserslautern but substitute Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson converted a free kick in the 75th minute to secure the draw.
Hoffenheim is second with 10 points while promoted Kaiserslautern has seven for fourth place.
Pogrebnyak opened the scoring for Stuttgart after just two minutes and added two more in the second half as the club followed up on its 3-0 victory over Young Boys in the Europa League by taking its first points in the Bundesliga.
Today, last-place Schalke looks for its first points of the season when it hosts Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen welcomes FC Nuremberg, and Hamburg plays at St Pauli.
Former England manager Steve McClaren's Wolfsburg also got off the mark with victory over Hanover thanks to second-half goals from Diego and Edin Dzeko.
Bayern was held to a goalless draw at home for the second league match running.
On Friday, SC Freiburg's Jan Rosenthal scored in the 89th to earn a 1-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt and lift his side to third spot.
Freiburg, enjoying its best ever start with three straight wins from four games, moved on to nine points.
The visitors missed an early chance through Papiss Cisse and remained a threat with their swift counter-attacks although substitute goalkeeper Oliver Baumann had to come to the rescue to deny Frankfurt's Patrick Ochs and Caio in the second half.
Freiburg snatched the winner a minute from time, with the hosts complaining Maximilian Nicu was off side when he set up new signing Rosenthal, who slotted home from inside the box.
In England, West Ham United secured its first Premier League point of the season, in its fifth game, after a 1-1 draw at Stoke yesterday.
The Londoners travelled to Stoke badly needing to get off the mark after four losses, and without manager Avram Grant, who was observing the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
They were the better team in the first half, taking the lead after 32 minutes when Scott Parker scored from close range following a scramble in the box.
Stoke, which picked up its first points with a win over Aston Villa last Monday, leveled with a Kenwyne Jones header three minutes after the break and was much the better side in the second half.
The two teams had lost seven out of eight Premier League games between them before the start of play.
In yesterday's later matches Arsenal was visiting Sunderland while Tottenham Hotspur was hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The big game of the weekend is at Old Trafford today when Manchester United plays Liverpool, with Chelsea also in action at home to Blackpool.
Go to Forum >>0 Comments