Schalke 04 joined Bayern Munich at the top of the table after easing past VfB Stuttgart 3-1 on Saturday to collect their fourth straight Bundesliga win.
Hosts Schalke took a third-minute lead through Joel Matip's close-range effort and Kyriakos Papadopoulos rose above two defenders at the near post to drill home a header in the 57th.
Teenager Julian Draxler finished off a quick passing move involving Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Raul to grab the third goal 10 minutes from time before lacklustre Stuttgart notched a late consolation through Shinji Okazaki.
Bayern are top on goal difference despite slumping to a 3-1 defeat at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday, the first game since the league's winter break.
Gladbach are third on 36 points, one off the pace and two ahead of fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund who visit Hamburg SV on Sunday.
"I was surprised by how strongly we started," Schalke coach Huub Stevens told reporters. "Tactically we played a very strong game. We now have as many points as Bayern and it is nice to dream."
The only sour note for Schalke was the head injury sustained by captain Benedikt Hoewedes.
He could be out for some time after colliding with team mate Marko Hoeger just before the break and being taken to hospital.
VfL Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath fielded four of his eight new signings in the 1-0 victory over Cologne but it was youth academy product Sebastian Polter who headed in the only goal from a Christian Traesch cross.
RESULTS
Schalke 04 3 (Matip 3, Papadopoulos 57, Draxler 80) VfB
Stuttgart 1 (Okazaki 87)
Nuremberg 2 (Esswein 43, Maroh 85) Hertha Berlin 0
Freiburg 1 (Ginter 88) Augsburg 0
Hoffenheim 0 Hanover 96 0
Wolfsburg 1 (Polter 78) Cologne 0
Kaiserslautern 0 Werder Bremen 0