Further pressure was piled on Valencia coach Nuno Espirito Santo as his side were beaten 1-0 at Espanyol, with Victor Alvarez's first-half goal proving the difference.
Los Che made a bright start to the game but were lucky not to concede more goals as the game went on and were grateful to young goalkeeper Jaume Domenech for keeping the damage to a single goal.
Valencia were the first side to cause danger and Espanyol goalkeeper Pau Lopez made the first of a string of important saves throughout the 90 minutes, keeping out an early shot from Zacharia Bakkali and then thwarting Rodrigo Moreno.
But it was the Catalans who took the lead on 17 minutes. Real Madrid loanee Marco Asensio curled a free-kick into the box that was deflected towards the far post by Valencia's Santi Mina, and Alvarez swept in to head home from a yard out.
Espanyol grew in confidence after going ahead and could have got a second before the break but Valencia goalkeeper Domenech made two smart saves in quick succession, keeping out Alvaro Gonzalez's header and Asensio's drive from long range.
Valencia improved at the start of the first half, with Rodrigo forcing another save from Lopez, but Espanyol dominated the latter stages, with Felipe Caicedo squandering a fine chance to double their advantage and Domenech also denying Hernan Perez and keeping away the follow-up effort from Asensio.
Valencia remain on six points for the season while Espanyol claim a third win and move on to nine points.
ends