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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents came from behind to triumph in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this game with the same records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and suffered one defeat to have accrued ten points.

For large parts there was very little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going on the attack, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the pressure and justly drew level when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a low finish.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, climb up to third, three points clear of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a hugely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they require to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling streak of results in all competitions.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four outings.

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five alterations for this game as he persisted with his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The changes here came after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will view squad rotation as vital as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players stays the same for key games.

"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you look at the five alterations that we did compared to the previous game it may be a change but it involves the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who played this evening are the individuals playing almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the same time.