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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to win in Bergamo.

Both sides went into this fixture with the same records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was not much to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' delivery.

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

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the pressure and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal late on when the Blues defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a draw late on but a brilliant save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase matches remaining.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, climb up to third, three points clear of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top eight position they need to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this extends Chelsea's concerning run of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he persisted with his run of moving 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 draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' workloads and challenge both at home and abroad, but he maintained the core group of players remains the same for crucial games.

"I think tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, 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 is the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The ones who played tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

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