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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents fought back to claim victory in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forwards, with former Charlton and Everton attacker creating problems for the defence.

James fired wide in the second half but the home team increased the intensity and justly drew level when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal late on when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven shot.

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

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Form Persists

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

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta took full advantage.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling sequence of form in all competitions.

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

Excessive Changes Proving Costly?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca enacted five changes for this match as he continued his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will see rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' minutes and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

"I believe tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he said.

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

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

Up Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.