Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus scored to propel Borussia Dortmund nine points clear of Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach following a 2-1 Bundesliga victory over the latter club.
The battle of the top two was decided by Sancho's fine solo strike and Reus' conversion of a sublime assist from Mario Gotze. Christoph Kramer had equalised for the Foals just before the break.
Bayern can take full control of second place with a positive result from Saturday's trip to Eintracht Frankfurt but Dortmund will nevertheless be in control of the title race heading into the new year.
Reus enjoyed the best early chance, from which visiting goalkeeper Yann Sommer denied him at close quarters.
Florian Neuhaus tried to respond for Monchengladbach with a first-time effort but it was BVB who took the lead in the 42nd minute.
When Louis Beyer lost possession in midfield, Raphael Guerreiro capitalised, finding Reus for a cutback to early substitute Gotze.
The World Cup winner supplied Sancho and the young England star passed Oscar Wendt before shooting across Sommer for a fine opener.
Yet the Foals were level in first-half stoppage time as Kramer's header from a Denis Zakaria cross was repelled only for the ball to fall to his feet, allowing him to poke home.
However, 10 minutes after the break Sancho skilfully freed up Gotze for a run that allowed the winger to deliver an inch-perfect low cross for Reus to make it 2-1.
Reus then hit a post from a free-kick as Dortmund pushed to kill the game off.
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '77784ee6-487c-4a20-b265-f21e4b401475');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:football,paservice:sport:match-reports,paservice:sport:uk,paservice:sport:world');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Borussia Dortmund power on at Bundesliga summit after winning battle of top two'});
