Chelsea's unbeaten home run reached the half-century mark on Tuesday when they drew 0-0 with Valencia in an uninspired Champions League Group B game which only the London side showed any interest in winning.

The landmark, 50 games at Stamford Bridge in all competitions since February 2006, will be the only thing the match is remembered for as Chelsea, already assured of top spot, enjoyed a one-sided exhibition but went close only late on when they twice hit the woodwork.

Valencia began the night with a slim hope of a UEFA Cup place for finishing third in the group but even that disappeared with Schalke 04's 3-1 win over Rosenborg Trondheim and the Spaniards barely mustered an effort on goal.

Chelsea, with most of their first choice players on show, looked lively enough with some sharp early passing but the competitive edge was missing and the game soon took on the feel of a friendly.

Frank Lampard, who seems destined to play in every match regardless of its importance, was as usual, their most potent threat in the first half.

He forced Santiago Canizares into a flying one-handed save with a 27th-minute shot, then sent a header into the keeper's hands shortly before the break.

The only bright thing about Valencia was their luminous orange shirts and their occasional forays over the halfway line produced only one worthwhile effort, a David Villa shot parried by Petr Cech.

Chelsea appeared more determined to win it in the second half and spent almost all of it on the attack.

Salomon Kalou had the ball in the net but was offside in the 64th minute, then missed a glorious chance 10 minutes later when Claudio Pizarro headed across goal only for the Ivorian striker to sidefoot against the bar from six metres.

Canizares then denied substitute Juliano Belletti with a near-post stop and then pushed a low Joe Cole shot on to a post -- completing the save with a diving header after the ball rebounded goalwards off a defender.

The goalkeeper blotted his copybook by earning a late booking for dissent but by then most of the 41,139 crowd had begun thinking ahead to Sunday's big Premier League game at Arsenal.

Chelsea: 1-Petr Cech; 20-Paulo Ferreira (35-Juliano Belletti 71), 26-John Terry, 22-Tal Ben Haim, 18-Wayne Bridge; 24-Shaun Wright-Phillips, 5-Michael Essien, 8-Frank Lampard (10-Joe Cole 62), 21-Salomon Kalou; 14-Claudio Pizarro, 7-Andriy Shevchenko (4-Claude Makelele 46).

Valencia: 1-Santiago Canizares; 23-Miguel (3-Manuel Fernandes 65), 4-Raul Albiol, 15-Ivan Helguera, 24-Emiliano Moretti; 2-Sunny, 5-Carlos Marchena, 21-David Silva; 7-David Villa (19-Javier Arizmendi 49), 9-Fernando Morientes, 14-Vicente (16-Juan Mata 75).

Referee: Grzegorz Gilewski (Poland)