Cole demands more from Blues

Although Chelsea claimed the upper hand on their previous visit to the Mestalla when a late Michael Essien goal earned them a place in the semi-finals of last season's tournament, the Blues cannot be considered favourites for Wednesday night's return encounter.

"It's a tough place to come and they are a side with great players," Cole said. "We need to be five to 10% better than we've been all season. We need to improve. That is everyone, including myself, we are not firing on all cylinders at the moment."

"As a team we want to go out and win. Maybe a draw would be a good result, but we want to come here and get a great result. We are improving and we don't think it will be too long before we are back to our top level and higher."

There is a contrast in the form of the two sides heading into the game, with Valencia having won all but one of their eight competitive matches this season, and Chelsea struggling to match their impressive dominance of recent campaigns.

The Barclays Premier League side have won just one of their past six matches, and aside from their 4-0 Carling Cup triumph over Hull, have netted just one goal during that spell.

The 1-1 home draw with Rosenborg - the lowest ranked team in the group - turned out to be Jose Mourinho's final game in charge, with Avram Grant handed the reigns in his place.

Mourinho had enjoyed a hugely successful three years at Stamford Bridge, including leading them into the semi-finals of the Champions League on two occasions, but Cole insists they now need to look beyond the self-styled 'Special One'.

"The club were very successful under Jose but in football things move on and things change," he said.

"We want to draw a line under that now and look forward. The atmosphere has been fine, obviously nothing runs smoothly when there is any change among leaders and managers. We all just want to look forward to a successful future with Avram and Chelsea, and win things."