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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta came from behind to claim victory in their home stadium.

Each club entered this match with matching records in the initial stage of this year's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued 10 points.

For extended periods there was very little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going forward, with ex- Premier League attacker causing issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the intensity and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they got the winner late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a low finish.

Chelsea tried to salvage a point late on but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage games remaining.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, jump up to third, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a hugely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta took full advantage.

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's concerning sequence of form in all tournaments.

Since beating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four games.

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he continued his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here followed after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

The coach will view rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' fitness and compete both at home and abroad, but he insisted the core group of players stays the unchanged for important fixtures.

"I think tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he commented.

"If you see the five changes that we made compared to the previous game it is a change but it involves the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The players who took to the field this evening are the ones playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them host the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the same time.