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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

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

Both sides went into this match with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, tied one, and lost to sit on 10 points.

For large parts there was not much to separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker creating problems for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the intensity and justly equalised when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the decisive strike late on when the Blues defenders backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a low finish.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point late on but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

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

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, leap up to third, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Persists

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight finish they require to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.

But the wider issue is that this extends Chelsea's worrying run 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 Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the first team.

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

The coach will view rotation as necessary as he attempts to manage players' minutes and challenge both at home and abroad, but he maintained the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for key fixtures.

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

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

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

What Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.