Salihovic netted the penalty and Hoffenheim held on to earn a relegation playoff against Kaiserslautern.
Bottom-of-the-table Augsburg played out a goalless draw at Hoffenheim in a game overshadowed by concern for Boris Vukcevic.
CNN: Bayern maintain perfect start with win over Werder Bremen
The 22-year-old Hoffenheim midfielder is in a critical condition after his car collided with a truck on Friday.
CNN: Bayern maintain perfect start with win over Werder Bremen
Leverkusen won 1-0 at home to Hoffenheim, with striker Stefan Kiessling scoring the only goal in the 67th minute.
The Upton Park side, who are bottom of the Premier League, signed forward Demba Ba from Hoffenheim on Friday.
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Vertonghen becomes new Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas' second signing after Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, who joined from Hoffenheim last week.
Ba looked set to leave Germany after he refused to travel with Hoffenheim to their winter training camp in Spain.
In Germany , Bayern Munich maintained its 17 point lead at the top of the Bundesliga following a 1-0 win over Hoffenheim.
With Hoffenheim winning, Fortuna Dusseldorf were automatically relegated, losing 3-0 at Hanover.
After failing to make home advantage tell in Thursday's first-leg 0-0 draw against the Cottagers, Hamburg were drubbed 5-1 at Hoffenheim on Sunday.
Mainz drew 1-1 with fourth-bottom Wolfsburg, while Augsburg pushed Hoffenheim down to second from the foot of the table with a 2-1 win.
The Bavarian giants had warmed up for the match with a 7-1 rout of Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga Saturday and continued in the same vein.
Ghanaian centre-half Isaac Vorsah found himself head-to-head with his Hoffenheim team-mate Chinedu Obasi - and the Ghanaian will have bragging rights when they return to Germany.
Hamburg moved up to fourth place on goal difference ahead of Schalke, two points behind Bayern and Bremen, after being held 0-0 at home by Hoffenheim.
Hoffenheim overpowered Bochum 3-0, Eintracht Frankfurt remained unbeaten after a 2-0 victory at Freiburg and Nurnberg beat Borussia Monchengladbach 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Peer Kluge.
In other mathes on Saturday, title holders Wolfsburg came from behind to win 2-1 in Hoffenheim, with Brazilian Grafite notching the winner on his return to the side.
The Hammers failed to clinch the loan signing of Hoffenheim's Senegalese international striker Demba Ba in time for him to feature at St Andrew's but Grant said the move is close to going through.
Schalke were also comfortable 3-0 winners against Hoffenheim.
Coach van Gaal felt Bayern could have won by more goals as they went a point clear of Bayer Leverkusen who will return to the summit with a draw or better against Hoffenheim on Sunday.
Seventh-placed Hoffenheim also have 28 points following a 2-1 win at home to bottom club Hannover, ending a four-game losing streak as first-half goals from Carlos Eduardo and Sejad Salihovic were the club's first of 2010.
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At the foot of the table, Greuther Furth suffered a 3-0 defeat at home to Hoffenheim and claim a unwanted record, becoming the first Bundesliga team not to win any of their first 13 home league games.
Dortmund's opponents Hoffenheim were fighting for their Bundesliga life and it looked bleak for the strugglers when Robert Lewandowski put the home side ahead after just six minutes -- the 24th of the league campaign for the Polish star.
He was threatened with legal action by the club's general manager, although Ba suggested in a statement on his own website that Hoffenheim had gone back on a promise to let him move to England, amid reported interest from West Ham United.
The story of how Ba came to West Ham from German club Hoffenheim, and how he was able to leave at the end of his first season in London because of a clause added to his contract at the last moment, is amazing.
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Ba, making his first West Ham start following his move from Bundesliga side Hoffenheim, got the goal when he latched on to Noble's ball into the danger area and, under pressure from Paul Scharner, Ba chested the ball down and turned it in from close-range.
Schalke are third after they sealed a 2-1 win over Stuttgart as ex-Germany striker Kevin Kuranyi hit the second-half winner and Werder Bremen are fourth after a 2-0 win over Hoffenheim -- with goalkeeper Tim Wiese saving a first-half penalty from Carlos Eduardo after only 14 minutes.
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