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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this fixture with identical records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued 10 points.

For large parts there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta remained a threat going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the intensity and justly drew level when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they secured the winning goal late on when the Blues defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a powerful shot.

The visitors attempted to salvage a point late on but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase games remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, leap up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Persists

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight finish they need to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta took full advantage.

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

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning sequence of results in all competitions.

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

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five rotations for this match as he persisted with his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will view squad rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' minutes and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he insisted the core group of players remains the same for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to the previous game it may be different but it is the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.