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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker scores a last-gasp winner for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's chances of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to win in their home stadium.

Each club entered this fixture with the same records in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued ten points.

For extended periods there was little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker creating issues for the backline.

James shot wide in the second half but the home team raised the intensity and rightfully equalised when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the winner late on when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven strike.

Chelsea tried to salvage a draw late on but a brilliant stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage games left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Continues

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

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 annoyed to be leaving with no points after taking the lead.

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

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

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

The rotations here came after he implemented the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' minutes and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the key nucleus of players remains the same for important games.

"I believe in this match [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

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

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

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