Bender double puts Bayer Leverkusen fifth in Bundesliga

(CNN) -- With Germany's title race set to resume in earnest on Sunday, Bayer Leverkusen took center stage in Saturday's Bundesliga action by claiming fifth place with a 2-0 win at struggling Cologne.

Midfielder Lars Bender scored both goals to give Leverkusen successive victories for the first time since August and a one-point advantage over Werder Bremen, who crashed 1-0 at Nuremberg in the late kickoff.

But it still left Leverkusen seven points adrift of Schalke, who travel to third-placed Bayern Munich on Sunday.

Champions Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, can stretch their two-point lead with victory at home to Hanover following second-placed Borussia Monchengladbach's home draw with Hamburg on Friday.

It could be a pivotal round of matches, with five points separating the top four teams.

Nuremberg climbed eight points clear of the relegation zone as Alexander Esswein's 65th-minute goal gave the visitors a second win in the last 10 meetings with the 2004 league champions.

Bremen hold a two-point advantage over Hanover in the race for the final Europa League qualification spot, with Stuttgart a further five points back despite the 4-1 win over bottom side Freiburg in which Martin Harnik scored twice.

Hoffenheim stayed behind their south-west rivals on goal difference after winning 2-1 at Wolfsburg, who dropped behind Hamburg and Mainz -- 4-0 victors over second-bottom Kaiserslautern.

Cologne are four points above the relegation playoffs after a sixth defeat in seven, while Augsberg moved out of the bottom three with a 3-0 win over fellow strugglers Hertha Berlin thanks to two second-half goals from striker Torsten Oehrl.