Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko scored a hat-trick, bringing his tally for the season to 19. Bralizian Grafite scored a penalty one minute before the final whistle to put the team one step closer to winning the championship.

With just four matches to go, the team from northern Germany have a three point lead over Bayern Munich, whose new coach Jupp Heynckes got the defending champions off to a winning start with a 2-1 victory against Borussia Moenchengladbach.

After the game Dzeko said that the team was still not talking of winning the championship. "We are looking at each match as it comes. This week we are going to Stuttgart and that will be a very tough game for us."

Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath, who has been linked to a possible move to Schalke next season, said that his side had started nervously. "Leading the table the players were a bit nervous and they did not do as well as I would have liked them to.

"But in the second half we were as good as we can be and I now think that we are favourites for the title. We still have two matches at home and we just want to win as many games as we can."

Wolfsburg have 60 points, while Bayern are on 57. Hertha Berlin, who are currently fourth in the standings, could close the gap on Wolfsburg on Sunday. Hertha who have 55 points face a difficult away trip to SV Hamburg, who are just a point behind in fifth place.

Wolfsburg looked far from convincing in the first half against the free-falling Hoffenheim side, who topped the table at the winter break, but an improved performance in the second half saw them run out convincing victors.

In Munich, Bayern took the lead in the 33rd minute through Bastian Schweinsteiger, but just five minutes later the visitors drew level when Filip Daems converted a penalty.

Three minutes from the break Hamit Altintop scored the winner for Bayern, who earlier in the week fired coach Juergen Klinsmann and replaced him with Heynckes.

The coach, who will only be in charge of the side for the remainder of the season, said that his side did not do well in the second half.

"We played better in the first half, even though we created more chances in the second half. We should have scored more goals though."

Another of the title challengers, VfB Stuttgart, lost some ground as they were held to a 2-2 draw at struggling Arminia Bielefeld. They remain third in the table on 55 points.

In other matches Schalke's hopes of qualifying for the Europa Cup received a setback as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Bayer Leverkusen, while Karlsruhe missed out on an opportunity of improving their chances of avoiding relegation, as they were held to a goalless draw by fellow strugglers Energie Cottbus.

Borussia Dortmund won 2-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt.

On Friday, Hanover 96 virtually guaranteed themselves a place in the Bundesliga next season as they won 2-0 at VfL Bochum.