Franck Ribery struck after 26 minutes and Lukas Podolski added the second two minutes after the break to leave Arminia just a point above the Bundesliga drop zone.

Nine-man Werder Bremen ensured they and Schalke will both play in the Champions League next season by beating northern Germany rivals Hamburg 1-0.

A goal from Hugo Almeida in the 50th minute was enough to win it for Bremen, who endured red cards to Frank Baumann in the 57th minute and Jurica Vranjes in stoppage time and rode their luck on the way.

Hamburg can now only qualify for the UEFA Cup - they hold a three-point advantage over sixth-placed Bayer Leverkusen with two games remaining.

Leverkusen missed the chance to move into a UEFA Cup spot with a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to Hertha Berlin.

After Marko Pantelic had given Berlin a first-half lead, Leverkusen found themselves reduced to 10 men midway through the second half when Stefan Kiessling was dismissed.

The visitors then doubled their advantage soon after through Sofian Chahed's penalty before an own goal from Steve Von Bergen got Leverkusen on the scoresheet in stoppage time.

At the other end of the table, Nurnberg kept alive their hopes of beating the drop with a battling 2-0 win over fellow strugglers Duisburg.

The hosts claimed the spoils thanks to first-half goals from Angelos Charisteas and Horacio Javier Pinola and are now just one point off safety with two games remaining.

Nurnberg are undefeated in their last four league games and now have 31 points - one point behind Bielefeld and two above Duisburg, who slipped below their opponents in the standings following the loss.

Also on Wednesday, Wolfsburg twice surrendered the lead against Eintracht Frankfurt, but held onto it the third time as they ground out a 3-2 victory.

Goals from Grafite in the fourth minute and Marcel Schafer in the 28th were equalised by Ioannis Amanatidis' penalty (22) and Markus Weissenberger (62) respectively.

But Edin Dzeko finished off the game with what proved to be the winner 11 minutes from time.