Champions Bayern Munich beat Karlsruhe 1-0 yesterday to close to within a point of league leaders Hertha Berlin who crashed to a 2-0 defeat against VfB Stuttgart.
Bayern, with midfielder Franck Ribery back in action after a two-week injury break, needed a single goal by Jose Sosa from close range to remain in the title hunt with 48 points.
Wolfsburg joined Bayern on 48 points with their seventh win in a row, a convincing 3-0 victory against hosts Arminia Bielefeld.
Striker Grafite took his season's goal tally to 18 when he netted Wolfsburg's second.
Newcomers Hoffenheim failed to win for a seventh straight match, needing a late goal from Wellington to draw 2-2 against lowly Hanover. Hoffenheim are fifth on 44 points.
Bayern were the livelier side from the start against Karlsruhe with an eager Ribery wreaking havoc.
Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mark van Bommel came close to converting his crosses early on but it was Jose Sosa who grabbed the lead with a close-range effort after a Ribery solo run and smooth pass into the Argentine's path.
Bayern, rarely threatened in defence, almost grabbed a second goal through Martin Demichelis in the 65th minute but Karlsruhe keeper Markus Miller pushed his header on to the crossbar.
The visitors, almost equalised a minute later though when Antonio da Silva's 30-metre free-kick was just pushed to the post by Bayern keeper Michael Rensing.
Hertha's four-point lead is now just one after Lucien Favre's team found no solution to Stuttgart's attacking play.
As usual, Hertha conceded the midfield early on to Stuttgart, lurking for their trademark quick counter attacks.
Stuttgart were the more dangerous side with Timo Gebhart and Mario Gomez coming close twice.
While they probably deserved a goal in the first half, they got it only two minutes after the restart when Mario Gomez headed on a deep cross from keeper Jens Lehmann into the path of Cacau who fired home from 10 metres.
Five minutes later, they were 2-0 up when midfielder Sami Khedira headed home a free-kick cross from Thomas Hitzlsperger.
Hertha pushed forward and had a few good chances through Andriy Voronin and Pal Dardai but their nervous attacks came too late, as Stuttgart now move to 42 points and back in contention for a UEFA Cup spot.