Borussia Dortmund eased past Werder Bremen in a comprehensive 3-0 victory on Tuesday, extending their unbeaten run in the Bundesliga to 10 games.
Out-of-form striker Serhou Guirassy also ended his drought and was back among the goals as Dortmund remained on the heels of runaway leaders Bayern Munich.
Nico Schlotterbeck opened the scoring for BVB in the 11th minute as Dortmund led 1-0 at half-time, with Werder Bremen not threatening enough besides two shots on target from Justin Njinmah.
Following a cagey return to action after the break, Dortmund doubled their advantage through Marcel Sabitzer with only quarter of an hour left.
Guirassy, who hadn't scored in his last seven consecutive league appearances, put the final nail in Bremen's coffin by adding a third goal a few minutes later.
Here are some key talking points from the game:
Dortmund keeps up its early scoring trend
An interesting trend seen in Borussia Dortmund's games this season is scoring early, which they kept up once again on Tuesday. Schlotterbeck's 11th-minute opener marks the 16th league goal from 29 that BVB have scored in the opening stanza.
But unlike many other games, Kovac's side were able to preserve that lead here, with Bremen lacking adequate attacking qualities to fully challenge Die Schwarzgelben offensively.
Deadball specialist Julian Ryerson took his 26th corner kick of the season, which Schlotterbeck rose the highest to node home and put his side in front.
Serhou Guirassy strikes back
Serhou Guirassy returned to scoring ways after seven long games in the league, and how. Just a day before the clash, Kovac had backed the underfire star to find his form again, and he didn't disappoint.
A defensive mistake allowed Guirassy to pounce on a loose ball and slot it home beyond visiting goalkeeper Mio Nagata for 3-0.
With that, the 29-year-old took his tally to double digits for the season, hitting the 10-goal mark. Six of them have been in the league, more than any Dortmund player.
Borussia Dortmund is now 10 games unbeaten
Borussia Dortmund have now gone 10 Bundesliga matches without a loss. Indeed, their only top-flight defeat of the season was against Bayern Munich on matchday seven. Since then, the BVB haven't lost in the competition, winning six and drawing four.
It's a good record on paper and displays their compelling run of form, but with the Bavarians looking unstoppable, they still trail the champions by eight points with having played one game more. Although there's another 17 games left in the season, it's hard to see Bayern relinquish such a healthy advantage in the title race.