Andrej Kramaric scored all three goals to give TSG 1899 Hoffenheim victory against Hannover 96, despite them not hitting the heights of last weekend.
He took advantage of a mistake from Salif Sané, but Hannover went in level at the break thanks to a Kenan Karaman goal.
In the second half, Kramaric then scored with first a volley and then a lob over Philipp Tschauner, which was enough to move his side above Bayer Leverkusen into the Bundesliga top four, at least until Saturday.
Karaman responded after Kramaric gifted opening goal
Hoffenheim were closing in on the top four after a run of eight games unbeaten, and following their 5-2 victory over RB Leipzig they made only the two enforced changes – Benjamin Hübner was injured and Florian Grillitsch suspended, so Havard Nordtveit and Kerem Demirbay started. Hannover fell to a standard 3-0 defeat to champions Bayern Munich last weekend, and they made two unenforced alterations – Martin Harnik and Ihlas Bebou dropped out for Julian Korb and Karaman.
The hosts started brightly, with a Demirbay shot palmed away by Tschauner their best chance before taking the lead a quarter-of-an-hour in. The goal was gifted to them though, with Sané’s misplaced pass leaped upon by Gnabry, who’s touch past Tschauner allowed Kramaric to pretty much walk the ball home. The goal came at a cost though, as Gnabry sustained an injury skipping over Tschauner after playing the ball, and he was forced off shortly after.
Despite that blow, they came close to doubling their lead soon after, when a Mark Uth shot took an awkward deflection, with Tschauner happy to see it go wide. And a few moments later the visitors were back level. Pirmin Schwegler was given too much time by his old club to cross the ball in, with Karaman in the middle shooting through the legs of Kevin Akpoguma and in.
Hoffenheim struggled in response, with the best chance before the break falling to Hannover. After Hoffenheim failed to clear a cross, Oliver Sorg’s shot went off the face of Akpoguma, before Schwegler found Karaman, whose shot was put out for a corner. It would remain all square going into half-time.
Kramaric stunners give lacklustre Hoffenheim the points
Having flagged towards the end of the first half, Hoffenheim came bursting out of the blocks again after the break. A couple of minutes after Pavel Kaderábek had an effort headed away by Sané, they went ahead once more in excellent fashion. Demirbay’s corner went past the crowd of bodies in the box to find Kramaric in space, and he unleashed an impressive volley that left Tschauner with little hope of stopping it.
After scoring his first Bundesliga goal last weekend, Kaderábek was clearly keen on another, having another attempt saved by Tschauner soon after the second goal, whilst a couple of shots from Nadiem Amiri were hit well away from danger. Hoffenheim were otherwise in control of proceedings, with Hannover failing to test Oliver Baumann in the opposite goal.
With Hoffenheim meandering through the second half, Hannover worked hard to try to get back into the game, with just under 15 minutes left they did at least force Baumann to make a save, Niklas Füllkrug heading Sorg’s cross at him. They then had a lucky escape when Amiri’s cross, which beat Tschauner, somehow came off substitute Ádám Szalai, who was trying to head it, and landed outside of the post.
Nevertheless, they would eventually get the third to settle the game. On the break, Nico Schutz launched the ball long towards Kramaric. After chesting the ball down, the Croatian saw Tschauner out of his goal, decided to chip him from just outside the box, and got his reward to complete a hat-trick for himself and earn his side all three points. They move above Bayer Leverkusen into fourth, at least until der Werkself play VfB Stuttgart on Saturday evening.