Barcelona beat Catalan rivals Espanyol 2-0 to steady the ship and provide new coach Radomir Antic with a first victory since he replaced Louis van Gaal.
Philip Cocu headed Barca into the lead after 40 minutes of an untidy game at Espanyol's Lluis Companys Olympic stadium and two minutes later Xavi finished off a neat counter-attacking move to double the advantage.
Barcelona let slip a two-goal lead in Antic's first match in charge last week, when Athletic Bilbao came back to claim a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp, but this time the defence held firm for a valuable victory.
The result gave Barca 27 points from 22 matches and took them from 15th place up to 10th, five points clear of the relegation zone. Espanyol dropped a place to 19th on 22 points.
Barcelona remain 17 points behind Real Sociedad, who lead the standings with 44 points, two clear of Real Madrid.
Sociedad are at Real Betis on Sunday, while Real Madrid travel to face Osasuna.
In other matches being played on Saturday, third-placed Valencia were looking for victory at home to Malaga to join Real Madrid on 42 points, while Deportivo Coruna, fourth on 36 points, were away to Valladolid.