Chelsea claimed a 2-1 victory at Malmo in the Europa League last-32 first leg to ease some of the pressure on beleaguered coach Maurizio Sarri, while Arsenal suffered a shock loss to BATE Borisov.
Visitors Chelsea desperately needed a response after back-to-back humiliating away losses, with last Sunday's 6-0 thrashing by Manchester City following a 4-0 reverse at Bournemouth.
Ross Barkley took advantage of a defensive lapse by the home team on Thursday to put Chelsea ahead on the half-hour mark, with Olivier Giroud adding a 58th-minute second before Malmo's late goal gave them a glimmer of hope ahead of next week's return match at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea face Manchester United in the FA Cup on Monday, before facing City again in the League Cup final on February 24.
"I am happy because we played with confidence and it wasn't really very easy after the last match (the defeat by City)," Sarri told BT Sport.
"I think I am always confident but sometimes we had the wrong approach with matches so we need to be careful in every match."
- Arsenal beaten in Belarus -
=============================
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content