The Blues' Automatic Qualification Ambitions Hit by Defeat at Atalanta

At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club went into this game with identical records in the league phase of this year's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For large parts there was little to separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished the captain's cross.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker causing problems for the backline.

James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the intensity and justly drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta got the decisive strike late on when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a low shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a draw late on but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Persists

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to secure the top-eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's worrying run of form in all competitions.

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

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The rotations here came after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will see rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for important games.

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

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

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

What's Next for These Sides?

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

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.