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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta overturned a deficit to claim victory in their home stadium.

The two teams went into this match with the same points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to be on 10 points.

For large parts there was not much to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

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

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winner late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven strike.

The visitors attempted to rescue a point in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

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

Atalanta, in contrast, leap up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Form Persists

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning streak of form in all tournaments.

Since beating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four games.

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he continued his run of moving players in and out of the first team.

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

Maresca will see squad rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' minutes and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for important fixtures.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we made relative to Bournemouth it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the same time.