Jadon Sancho, Marco Reus, Paco Alcacer and Maximilian Philipp were all on target as Borussia Dortmund swept past VfB Stuttgart on Saturday to go three points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

VfB Stuttgart 0-4 Borussia Dortmund

Goals: 0-1 Sancho (3'), 0-2 Reus (23'), 0-3 Alcacer (25'), 0-4 Philipp (85')

While Stuttgart came into this game with just one win in seven outings – and with new coach Markus Weinzierl in the dugout for the first time – Bundesliga leaders Dortmund were looking for a fifth straight win in all competitions, and their early confidence showed as Sancho opened the scoring on just three minutes. After neat work from Jacob Bruun Larsen down the left, Reus' deflected cross reached the Englishman, whose effort clipped off Emiliano Insua and into the back of the net. VfB grew into the game and went close through Christian Gentner, but two goals in as many minutes put Dortmund firmly in control. Reus swept in Lukasz Piszczek's cut-back after a cute dummy from Alcacer, and the Spain forward then chipped in a glorious third after a mistake from Benjamin Pavard, joining Eintracht Frankfurt's Luka Jovic on seven goals at the top of the Bundesliga scoring charts.

Stuttgart had a golden opportunity to pull a goal back three minutes into the second half, but Gentner was left clutching his head in his hands as he fired over from inside the six-yard box. The hosts continued to push and Roman Bürki showed superb reflexes to block a close-range effort from Santiago Ascacibar, after parrying an Erik Thommy cross into the Argentine's path. Pablo Maffeo was the next man to try his luck, but his low effort was held by Bürki, while Abdou Diallo did well to snuff out chances for Timo Baumgartl and Mario Gomez. Lucien Favre had withdrawn Alcacer at half-time – perhaps with one eye on Wednesday's UEFA Champions League clash at home to Atletico Madrid – and it was his replacement, Philipp, who put the cherry on the cake with a late fourth.

Match stats

With 27 goals in just eight outings, Dortmund have made their most prolific start to a Bundesliga season. Sancho scored his third Bundesliga goal and his first away from home, after previous efforts against Bayer Leverkusen and Nuremberg. The Englishman's third-minute opener was Dortmund's earliest goal in the Bundesliga since September 2017, when Philipp found the target after just two minutes in a 5-0 win over Cologne. Reus is up to five goals and four assists in eight Bundesliga outings this season – only Frankfurt's Sebastien Haller (five goals, five assists) has had a hand in more goals. The Dortmund captain has now scored on all 34 Matchdays in the Bundesliga calendar. Alcacer set a new all-time Bundesliga record by scoring his seventh top-flight goal after just 106 minutes on the pitch. It was also his seventh shot on target.Philipp became the 14th different Dortmund player to score this season. BVB are also the first team in Bundesliga history to have had 10 goals scored by substitutes after just eight games.

Line-ups

Stuttgart: Zieler – Maffeo (Beck 78’), Pavard, Baumgartl, Insua – Castro (Babstuber 46’), Ascacibar, Gentner (c) - Gonzalez, Gomez, Thommy (Akolo 69’)

Subs: Grahl, Kopacz, Özcan, Sarpei

Absentees: Aogo, Donis, Kempf (all thigh), Meyer (ankle), Sosa (pubic bone), Didavi (Achilles)

Coach: Markus Weinzierl

Dortmund: Bürki - Piszczek, Diallo, Zagadou, Hakimi - Witsel, Delaney - Sancho, Reus (c) (Götze 80’), Bruun Larsen (Pulisic 66’) – Alcacer (Philipp 46’)

Subs: Hitz, Dahoud, Weigl, Toprak

Absentees: Akanji (hip), Schmelzer, Toljan (both knee)

Coach: Lucien Favre

Watch: Marco Reus delights in "clinical" Paco Alcacer

As it happened

Click here for the Stuttgart-Dortmund match centre!