Bundesliga: Hannover lose 8th in a row; Schalke stall Stuttgart

Hannover remain rooted to the bottom of the Bundesliga after losing their eighth game in a row.

Koo Ja-cheol scored the only goal of a 1-0 victory for Augsburg, who pulled four points clear of the bottom three ahead of their trip to Anfield on Thursday.

Tobias Werner could have added a late second for the Bavarians while Hannover rarely tested Marwin Hitz, earning boos of disapproval from their fans at the final whistle.

The defeat is their fifth in a row under Thomas Schaaf, who replaced Michael Frontzeck during the winter break, and leaves them eight points from safety.

Stuttgart's recent resurgence was stalled by Schalke, who held Jurgen Kramny's men to a 1-1 draw in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday.

Younes Belhanda put the hosts in front against the run of play and they had their goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann to thank that they held their lead until 16 minutes from time.

Martin Harnik then struck to earn a point for Stuttgart, whose run of five straight wins came to an end.

Stuttgart were quick to demonstrate the sort of form that has seen them rise from the bottom of the Bundesliga into the top half since December.

Timo Werner was a handful for the Schalke defense while captain Christian Gentner got in the first shot of the evening, which Fahrmann did well to turn behind.

Schalke did better with their first attempts of the game, though, taking the lead in the 14th minute when Alessandro Schopf's shot was parried by Przemyslaw Tyton and Belhanda rose to head the loose ball in from just inside the penalty area.

Werner led Stuttgart's attempts to equalise, but Fahrmann twice denied him before the interval.

Junior Caicara came to his goalkeeper's rescue when Roman Neustadter's clearance rebounded off him and back towards the open goal, but the hosts' luck ran out in the 74th minute when Stuttgart grabbed a deserved equaliser.

Fahrmann got a finger to Gentner's header, but he was only able to push the ball out to Harnik, who converted from close range.

Fahrmann had a few more saves to make before his evening's work was done, and Schalke would have been more relieved than Stuttgart to hear the final whistle.