Valencia v Chelsea facts

Valencia were surprise winners at Chelsea on Matchday 1 and are in a three-way tie with their English opponents – and Ajax – ahead of the reverse fixture at Mestalla, where the English side have never lost.

• Valencia spoiled Frank Lampard's European debut as Chelsea manager with a first victory against the Blues at the seventh attempt on Matchday 1. Rodrigo scored what proved to be the only goal of the game at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's Ross Barkley missing a late chance to equalise from the penalty spot.

• With Valencia, Chelsea and Ajax all on seven points in Group H, either Valencia or Chelsea will be through if they win due to their favourable head-to-head record in a potential three-way tie also involving the Dutch club.

Previous meetings
• All of the sides' encounters before this season came in the space of four and a half years, four alone taking place in 2007. The English club were 3-2 aggregate winners against Valencia in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, winning 2-1 at Mestalla after a 1-1 draw in west London; Chelsea went on to lose to Liverpool on penalties in the last four.

• Chelsea also won 2-1 at Valencia in the following season's group stage before a goalless draw in London. They went on to finish first in the section with Valencia fourth, and progressed all the way to that season's final, losing to Manchester United – also in a shoot-out – in Moscow.

• Chelsea's run to glory in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League featured two games against Valencia in the group stage, Lampard scoring in a 1-1 draw at Mestalla on Matchday 2 before the English club won 3-0 at Stamford Bridge on Matchday 6, their sole home success against Valencia.

Form guide
Valencia
• Valencia went down 3-0 at home to Ajax on Matchday 2, a second successive European defeat at Mestalla, and conceded a late equaliser to draw 1-1 at LOSC Lille in their third fixture before overturning a half-time deficit to beat the French side 4-1 last time out.

• Fourth in the Spanish Liga in 2018/19, this is Valencia's 12th UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. Finalists in both 1999/2000 and 2000/01, they have not reached the last 16 since 2012/13.

• Twelve months ago Los Blanquinegros were also in Group H, finishing third behind Juventus and Manchester United – who they beat 2-1 at Mestalla on Matchday 6 having earlier held out for a goalless draw at Old Trafford – to move into the UEFA Europa League. There they overcame Celtic (3-0 on aggregate), Krasnodar (3-2) and Villarreal (5-1) to reach the semi-finals, where they came up short against Chelsea's local rivals Arsenal, losing 3-1 in London and 4-2 at home.

• Valencia had won five successive home European matches before losing to Arsenal last season. They have won 13 of their last 18 continental fixtures at Mestalla, losing the other five. They last drew a European home game in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League round of 32, 0-0 against Dynamo Kyiv.

• Valencia have won nine of their 19 matches against clubs representing England, losing five, although all of those defeats have come in the last eight such fixtures.

Chelsea
• Lampard's side responded to their opening loss against Valencia with a 2-1 victory at LOSC Lille before a 1-0 win at Ajax and a remarkable 4-4 draw at home to the Dutch club last time out in which Chelsea recovered from being 4-1 down.

• The Matchday 3 win at Ajax extended Chelsea's unbeaten run in European away matches to nine (W7 D2).

• Third in last season's Premier League, Chelsea also qualified for the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage as the winners of the UEFA Europa League, and are taking part for the 16th time; only once, as holders in 2012/13, have they failed to reach the knockout stages.

• The Blues were UEFA Europa League winners under Maurizio Sarri in 2018/19, beating Arsenal 4-1 in the competition's first all-English final since Tottenham overcame Wolves in the 1972 UEFA Cup. Eden Hazard scored twice at the Baku Olympic Stadium, Olivier Giroud and Pedro Rodríguez also finding the net as Chelsea claimed their second UEFA Europa League title having also triumphed in 2013, their only other appearance in the competition.

• The London club have scored three goals or more in six of their last 12 European matches. Their tally of 36 goals in last season's UEFA Europa League was one short of the competition record set by Porto in 2010/11.

• Chelsea were unbeaten in European competition last season, claiming the UEFA Europa League with a record of W12 D3 F36 A10. Before losing to Valencia on Matchday 1, their last continental defeat had come at Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg in March 2018 (0-3), although they did lose on penalties against Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup this August following a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes in Istanbul.

• That defeat at Barcelona's was Chelsea's most recent trip to Spain, and ended a ten-match unbeaten run away to Liga clubs (W3 D7).

• A 2-1 victory at Atlético Madrid on Matchday 2 in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League is Chelsea's only success in their last nine fixtures against Liga clubs (D4 L4).

Links and trivia
• Have played in England:
Gabriel Paulista (Arsenal 2015–17)
Francis Coquelin (Arsenal 2011–17)
Eliaquim Mangala (Manchester City 2014–19, Everton 2018 (loan))
Dani Parejo (QPR 2008 (loan))

• Gabriel lost all three games against Chelsea for the Gunners, and was sent off in a 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on 19 September 2015.

• International team-mates:
José Gayà, Dani Parejo, Rodrigo & Kepa Arrizabalaga (Spain)
Cristiano Piccini & Emerson Palmieri, Jorginho (Italy)

Latest news

Valencia
• Valencia's three-game winning run in all competitions, in which they scored eight goals, was ended by Saturday's 2-1 loss at Real Betis.

• Of Dani Parejo's seven goals this season, six have come from the penalty spot, including the equaliser against LOSC on Matchday 4.

• Valencia have 20 points after 14 Liga games this season, three more than they had at the same stage of 2018/19.

• Gonçalo Guedes was withdrawn at half-time during Portugal's 2-1 UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying defeat in Ukraine on 14 October after suffering an ankle injury, and has not played since.

• Cristiano Piccini (knee) has been out since 24 August.

• Geoffrey Kondogbia (hamstring) was substituted early in Valencia's 2-0 home victory against Granada on 9 November.

• Denis Cheryshev (thigh) has not played since coming off injured on Matchday 4.

• Mouctar Diakhaby (calf) and Rubén Sobrino (thigh) have not played since 2 November.

• Francis Coquelin (hamstring) has not played since 30 October; Carlos Soler (ankle) came on as a late substitute at Betis on Saturday, his first appearance after picking up a knock on 30 October.

• Jasper Cillessen played 90 minutes as the Netherlands secured their place at UEFA EURO 2020 with a 0-0 draw away to Northern Ireland on 16 November; he also featured in the 5-0 home win against Estonia three days later to make it four clean sheets in eight qualifiers.

Chelsea
• Chelsea have won nine of their last 12 matches in all competitions (D1 L2), including six in a row in the Premier League before Saturday's 2-1 loss at champions Manchester City, a match in which N'Golo Kanté gave them the lead.

• Chelsea's seven-match winning run in all competitions was ended by a 2-1 home defeat against Manchester United in the last 16 of the English League Cup on 30 October.

• The Blues made it seven successive away wins in all competitions with a 2-1 Premier League victory at Watford on 2 November. That made Frank Lampard the second Blues manager to win seven straight away games, after Bobby Campbell between February and April 1989, before the winning run was halted at City.

• Christian Pulišić scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at Burnley on 26 October, the second American to hit a Premier League treble after Clint Dempsey for Fulham in 2012.

• Aged 21 years 38 days, Pulišić became Chelsea's youngest Premier League hat-trick scorer; he beat the record set by Tammy Abraham 42 days earlier, in a 5-2 win at Wolves on 14 September. Those hauls for Abraham and Pulišić made Chelsea the first team in Premier League history to have two different hat-trick scorers in a single campaign aged 21 or under.

• Chelsea's team for the 2-0 win at home to Crystal Palace on 9 November had an average age of 24 years 88 days, their youngest ever starting XI in the Premier League.

• Chelsea were 7-1 winners against fourth division Grimsby in the English League Cup third round at Stamford Bridge on 25 September, their biggest win since a 6-0 defeat of Qarabağ on Matchday 1 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League. They last scored seven goals in a game on 23 December 2012, when they beat Aston Villa 8-0 in the Premier League.

• The Blues drew 2-2 against Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup on 14 August, losing 5-4 on penalties in Istanbul.

• Tammy Abraham scored his first international goal as England beat Montenegro 7-0 at Wembley on 14 November to seal their place at UEFA EURO 2020.

• Three days later, Mason Mount also got his first England goal in a 4-0 victory in Kosovo, a game in which Fikayo Tomori came off the bench to make his senior debut.

• Mateo Kovačić was a late substitute as Croatia beat Slovakia 3-1 at home on 16 November to reach UEFA EURO 2020.

• Olivier Giroud scored a penalty winner as France celebrated qualification for next summer's tournament with a 2-1 defeat of Moldova on 14 November.

• Jorginho was also on target from the spot as Italy rounded off their perfect qualifying campaign with a 9-1 home win against Armenia on 18 November.

• Andreas Christensen was out with a thigh injury between Denmark's 1-0 home win against Switzerland in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying on 12 October and a 6-0 home success against Gibraltar on 15 November. The defender came on as a late substitute in the latter game, and was also introduced in the closing stages of the 0-0 draw in the Republic of Ireland three days later that secured Denmark's finals place.

• Callum Hudson-Odoi missed the City game with a hamstring problem.

• Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been out since 16 May with an Achilles tendon problem.

• Antonio Rüdiger had been out since 28 April due to a knee injury before returning at Wolves on 14 September; he was withdrawn at half-time with a groin strain and has not played since.

• Ross Barkley has been sidelined by an ankle problem since 19 October.

• Pulišić, who had scored in three successive Premier League matches, five goals in all, before the defeat at Manchester City, picked up a hip problem against Crystal Palace but recovered to play 90 minutes on Saturday.