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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss 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 qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to win in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this game with matching records in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued ten points.

For much of the game there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian converted Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the backline.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the intensity and rightfully drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defenders retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a draw late on but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase matches left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Continues

This was a hugely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they require to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with nothing after taking the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this continues Chelsea's worrying sequence of form in all competitions.

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Costly?

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

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

The coach will view rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the core group of players remains the same for key games.

"I think tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you look at the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth it is a change but it is the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Teams?

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

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.