Markus Weinzierl's Schalke 04 side continued their rise up the Bundesliga table by defeating Werder Bremen 3-1 at the Veltins-Arena on Sunday evening.

Two goals from Alessandra Schöpf and a goal from Nabil Bentaleb sealed an impressive win for the royal blues right before the international break.

On the other hand, Alexander Nouri's Bremen side struggled throughout even though Serge Gnabry scored from the penalty spot in the second half and stay in 16th place in the table.

Sluggish start to the game

The hosts should have taken an early lead in a game that took a while to get going, when the ball fell to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting a few yards out in the box but he blasted his shot over the bar.

The visitors best moment early on came through a long range strike from Theodor Gebre Selassie which Ralf Fährmann had to react well to in order to kept it out.

After the early chances though the game went into a bit of lull until three goals in the space of seven minutes changed the tune of the game.

Three goals in seven minute put hosts on top

The hosts took the lead when a fantastic low dipping half-volley from Max Meyer came back off the bar but Schöpf was there to head the ball home on the rebound.

It didn't take them long to double their lead either as a long range strike from Naldo was well saved by Felix Wiedwald but on the rebound, Bentaleb put the ball into the net.

Just as everything looked like it was going smoothly for the home side, out of nowhere, the visitors were awarded a penalty when Schöpf fouled Gnabry in the box and referee Gunter Perl pointed to the spot.

Gnabry stood up to take the penalty and confidently placed the ball into the net to give the struggling visitors something cheer about just before half-time.

Schöpf's second goal seals win for hosts

The problem for the visitors though was that at the start of the second half the hosts came out strong and went close on a couple of occasions but Weidwald did well to keep them in the game.

That was until a fantastic run and cross from Saed Kolasinac found Schöpf at the back post and the wing back struck the ball home to score his second goal of the game to restore the hosts' two-goal advantage.

After the goal, the hosts took their foot off the gas and gave their visitors some hope but they defended everything well throughout the second half to stop the visitors from getting anything from the game.

Visitors slip to third successive defeat

In truth throughout the second half, the visitors struggled to create anything of not as Fährmann really had nothing to do and was very much a spectator.

The win means that the royal blues move up to 11th in the table while Bremen stay 16th in the table hoping that after the international break they can start picking up some points.

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