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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as their Italian opponents fought back to claim victory in Bergamo.

Each club went into this fixture with the same points tallies in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to be on ten points.

For large parts there was very little to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted the captain's cross.

But Atalanta remained a danger going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the pressure and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they scored the winner in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a powerful finish.

The visitors tried to salvage a draw in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase fixtures left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Persists

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to secure the top eight finish they need to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

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 annoyed to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying run of form in all competitions.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the end of November they are now without a win in their last four outings.

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this game as he continued his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

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

The coach will view rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' fitness and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the same for key games.

"I believe in this match [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you look at the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What's Next for These Teams?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.