Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben both scored twice as Bayern Munich returned to form with a convincing 4-1 victory at home over ten-man Werder Bremen which took them to the top of the Bundesliga.

Ribery opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, with Markus Rosenberg equalising in the 52nd minute. Robben pushed Bayern back ahead with a penalty in the 69th minute and Ribery struck for a second time in the 77th to make it 3-1. Aaron Hunt was sent off in the 80th minute for Bremen and then Robben converted a second time from the spot in the 83rd minute.

Bayern had lost three of their last five league matches and had not beaten Bremen at home since 2005, but Jupp Heynckes' men stormed back to the top of the table with 31 points. Bremen had won three of their previous four league games, but today remained on 26 points.

Neither team were able to create many chances until Bayern hit Bremen on the counter-attack and took the lead after 22 minutes. The ball went to David Alaba who sent a long diagonal pass to Ribery and the Frenchman streaked past Clemens Fritz and fired the ball in off the inside of the left post.

Bremen, whose first chance came in the 47th minute, equalised in the 52nd minute as Claudio Pizarro found Rosenberg, who outpaced Holger Badstuber and beat Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with a shot just inside the left post. It was the struggling Rosenberg's first goal since the end of August.

Robben gave Bayern the lead after 69 minutes from the spot, striking his left-footed shot into the lower left corner after defender Andreas Wolf had fouled Thomas Muller just inside the box.

The lead was 3-1 in the 77th minute as again Bayern caught Bremen out on the break. Robben played the ball into the path of Mario Gomez, who rounded Bremen goalkeeper Sebastian Mielitz but watched as Ribery raced onto the ball and slotted home from four yards out.

Bremen went a man down with nine minutes left as Hunt was shown a red card for his crude challenge on Toni Kroos. And the game was decided for good in the 83rd minute with Robben converting his second penalty into the lower-right corner after Sokratis Papastathopoulos fouled Ribery in the box.