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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to claim victory in Bergamo.

Each club entered this match with the same records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For large parts there was very little to separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's cross.

But Atalanta remained a danger going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker creating problems for the backline.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but the home team increased the intensity and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta scored the winner late on when the Chelsea defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a powerful strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a point late on but a brilliant save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage games remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Persists

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight finish they need to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination 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 worrying streak of results in all competitions.

Since defeating Barcelona 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four matches.

Too Many Rotations Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five rotations for this match as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

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

Maresca will view rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the central contingent of players remains the same for crucial games.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

Up Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them host the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.