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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta fought back to win in their home stadium.

The two teams entered this fixture with the same points tallies in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to be on ten points.

For extended periods there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished the captain's cross.

But Atalanta always looked a danger going forwards, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the intensity and deservedly equalised when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a powerful strike.

Chelsea tried to salvage a draw late on but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures left to play.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, jump up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Form Persists

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to achieve the top eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this extends Chelsea's concerning streak of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five alterations for this game as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here followed after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

Maresca will view squad rotation as essential as he attempts to manage players' workloads and compete both at home and abroad, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the same for key fixtures.

"I think tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you see the five changes that we made compared to the previous game it may be a change but it is the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The ones who played tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.