Borussia Mönchengladbach bounced back from a 2-2 draw with FC Augsburg at the weekend when they hit four without reply past VfB Stuttgart on Wednesday.
Thorgan Hazard broke the deadlock after just 16 minutes, whilst Raffael, Patrick Herrmann and an own goal from Kevin Großkreutz made it a rout in the second half.
Gladbach start fast but fail to add to their lead
The hosts started the game very well as they dominated Stuttgart, but unfortunately for their fans they couldn't create any chances that forced Przemysław Tytoń into making any saves.
Stuttgart did manage to earn a dangerous free-kick just after the 10 minute mark that saw Daniel Didavi pick out Timo Werner, but the youngster could only head wide of Yann Sommer's goal.
Gladbach took the lead after 16 minutes. Håvard Nordtveit started the move as he played a fantastic cross field pass from the left to pick out Fabian Johnson. The American showed great control and composure to beat his man and play the ball back to Hazard, allowing the Belgian to have an easy tap in from a couple of yards out.
After continuing their dominance, Gladbach came close to scoring another after the half hour mark. Mahmoud Dahoud was halted just inside the area and the ball fortunately fell to Raffael, but Lars Stindl could only direct his cut-back just wide of the post when he really should have scored.
Just before half time, the home side again went agonisingly close to doubling their lead. Raffael played the ball in from the left and managed to find Hazard - the goalscorer let fly and Tytoń somehow managed to get his fingertips to the effort as it cannoned off the crossbar. Hazard was allowed a follow up chance, however Tytoń was there once more and able to keep hold of the effort.
Hosts run riot after the restart
Stuttgart needed to change something and at half time they did just that with a double substitution. Artem Kravets was one of those changes and he was able to grab an early second half chance. The Ukrainan got on the end of Filip Kostić's cross from the left, however his header was matched by Sommer.
This positive sign for the visitors proved to be nothing more as, on the hour mark, Gladbach finally grabbed their second of the game. They worked the ball well from the left and Martin Hinteregger centered it after being picked out inside the area. The pass was a loose one, however there was a confusion between Tytoń and Christian Gentner which allowed Raffael to steal possession and, on the turn, fire into the empty net.
A third soon followed for Gladbach thanks to very impressive impact from Herrmann. The midfielder came off the bench for the first time since recovering from injury and, 30 seconds later, he scored. Dahoud picked up the ball and calmly slotted it through to the onrushing sub, who excellently finished across goal and into the corner.
Stuttgart were allowed to attack more often as Gladbach sat back deeper and looked to see out the result. Depsite this, the away side still struggled to get anything going in the final third and Sommer remained largely untested.
Right at the end of the game Stuttgart conceded a fourth. Herrmann fired in a good cross and, despite there being no white shirts in sight, Tytoń left the cross, much to the surprise of Kevin Großkreutz as the ball trickled in off the full-back's shin.
It's another loss for Stuttgart after what was a impressive unbeaten run before the loss to Hannover 96, and now they have to recover from back-to-back losses against the in-form TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. As for Gladbach, they have a tough test ahead on Saturday as they face VfL Wolfsburg away from home.