Werder Bremen pulled further away from the relegation zone with their fourth win in their last six games, Ishak Belfodil and Max Kruse on target in a 3-1 triumph at Augsburg.

Augsburg 1-3 Bremen

Goals: 0-1 Belfodil (5'), 0-2 Belfodil (40'), 1-2 Khedira (63'), 1-3 Kruse (82')

Bremen signalled their intent with a promising attack with Kruse after only ten seconds and they crowned an impressive opening with Belfodli cutting in from the right, skipping past Martin Hinteregger and drilling a low shot into the far corner of Marwin Hitz's goal in the fifth minute. With Bremen continuing to impress, Belfodil grabbed his and Bremen's second five minutes before half-time with a bit of luck involved as his shot came back at him off Hitz and ricocheted in off the Algerian forward's knee.

After a Belfodil header went close to completing his hat-trick, Maximilian Eggestein, making his 50th Bundesliga appearance, tried an audacious attempt to beat Hitz from distance, and he almost succeeded with the Swiss goalkeeper only just getting his fingertips to the ball to touch it onto the crossbar. Augsburg finally responded with an hour on the clock, Caiuby stinging Jiri Pavlenko's palms with a pile-driver. From the resultant corner, Rani Khedira reduced the arrears with a header – his first Bundesliga goal. The game sparked into life with Theodor Gebre Selassie heading against the crossbar at the other end before Pavlenka kept Bremen ahead with a fine save to turn Michael Gregoritsch's free-kick onto the post. Kruse then put the game to bed, curling Belfodil's pass into the top left-hand corner for Bremen's fourth win in their last six games.

Match stats

With Belfodil's opener, eight different players had scored Bremen's last eight goals.Belfodil's goal was Bremen's third this season inside the first five minutes.In his first 21 Bundesliga games, Belfodil scored just once – he netted two in 40 minutes on Saturday.Philipp Max remains the Bundesliga's leading assist-provider, with his 12th assist of the season for Khedira's goal.Khedira's goal was his first in his 42nd Bundesliga appearance. His brother Sami had scored in his fourth Bundesliga game.Bremen have won three of their last five Bundesliga games to pull two points clear of the promotion/relegation play-off piece.

Want more Bundesliga Action?

GET THE UPDATES!

Line-ups

Augsburg: Hitz – Schmid, Kacar (Moravek 46'), Hinteregger, Max – Khedira, Baier (c) – Richter (Cordova 79'), Koo, Caiuby – Gregoritsch
Unused subs: Luthe, Heller, Parker, Janker, Jakob
Absentees: Giefer (knee), Gouweleeuw (knee), Danso (ankle), Framberger (ankle), Opare (not considered), Finnbogason (calf)
Coach: Manuel Baum

Bremen: Pavlenka – Gebre Selassie, Langkamp, Moisander, Augustinsson – Bargfrede – M. Eggestein, Delaney (Junuzovic 64'), Belfodil (Johannsson 90') – Kainz (Friedl 85'), Kruse (c)
Unused subs: Drobny, Caldirola, Bauer, Rashica
Absentees: Zetterer (wrist), Verlaat (back), Gondorf (appendicitis), Eilers (pulled muscle), Käuper (foot), Bartels (Achilles tendon), Veljkovic (foot)
Coach: Florian Kohfeldt

Live updates