Valencia vs Levante - Valencia aiming for derby day delight against struggling Levante

Valencia captain Dani Parejo hopes a victory in the city derby against Levante will be the turning point of the season for Los Che.

Nuno Espirito Santo's team have struggled for consistency all season, with victories in their last two La Liga outings at the Mestalla followed immediately by defeats on the road.

Parejo is targeting nine points from the games against Levante, Gent and Celta Vigo to kickstart their domestic and Champions League campaigns.

"A derby is special, it's a nice game," he told the club's official website.

"Maybe we don't come into it in as good shape as we would like, but a game like this could end up being very important - it may be a turning point in the season and we have to treat it as such. Our only acceptable result is a win, because we are playing at home in front of our fans. Only the three points will make us happy.

"It is very important for us to win on Saturday against Levante and on Tuesday in the Champions League, then the next game away to Celta. Those three games are three finals for us and we have to deal with them as such."

Valencia headed into their last match against Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon last Sunday having won back-to-back matches at the Mestalla in the league and in Europe, but they slumped to a 2-1 defeat in the capital.

"These are difficult times and we must be realistic," Parejo added.

"Last Sunday we didn't play a good game, it did not go as well as we thought or wanted. But it's in the past now, there is no turning back and you cannot do anything about it. I think it is now time to reflect and look at what we can each do to help the team; what the manager told us was along those lines."

Ninth-placed Valencia welcomed Algeria midfielder Sofiane Feghouli back to training this week after he suffered an injury on international duty.

Levante make the short trip to Mestalla bottom of the table, with just one league win all season, and with a debutant coach at the helm in Rubi.

He replaces Lucas Alcaraz, who was sacked last Sunday after a 4-0 home defeat to Real Sociedad.

Rubi was part of the late Tito Vilanova's coaching staff at Barcelona and most recently had been working at second-tier Real Valladolid.