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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta fought back to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this game with identical records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to be on ten points.

For extended periods there was not much to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side remained a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the backline.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but the home team upped the pressure and rightfully equalised when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they secured the decisive strike late on when the Blues defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a draw late on but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to achieve the top eight finish 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 their opponents took full advantage.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this continues Chelsea's worrying run of results in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

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

Maresca will view rotation as vital as he attempts to handle players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the key nucleus of players remains the same for key games.

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

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

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

Up Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League game sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

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