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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the league phase 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 knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta overturned a deficit to win in their home stadium.

Both sides entered this match with the same points tallies in the league phase of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For large parts there was very little to distinguish them in this contest too, although Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted the captain's cross.

But Atalanta remained a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but the home team upped the pressure and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven shot.

The visitors attempted to rescue a point late on but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase matches remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, climb up to third place, three points clear of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a hugely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to secure the top eight finish they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

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

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 annoyed to be leaving with no points after securing the early advantage.

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

Since defeating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now without a win in their last four matches.

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five changes for this game as he continued his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The changes here followed after he implemented the identical amount for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' fitness and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for key games.

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

"If you see the five changes that we made relative to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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