Chelsea's Qualification Hopes Dealt a Blow by Loss at Atalanta

Match Summary

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat 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 chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta overturned a deficit to claim victory in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was little to separate them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta always looked a threat going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker creating problems for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team increased the pressure and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winner late on when the Blues defenders backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven strike.

The visitors attempted to rescue a draw late on but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage matches left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, jump up to third place, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they need to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta 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 departing with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling sequence of results in all competitions.

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

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he continued his run of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here came after he implemented the identical amount for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will view squad rotation as necessary as he attempts to manage players' minutes and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he insisted the core group of players stays the same for important games.

"I think tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he said.

"If you see the five changes that we made relative to the previous game it is a change but it involves the eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What Next for These Clubs?

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

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.