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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to win in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this game with matching records in the initial stage of this year's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to be on ten points.

For large parts there was very little to separate them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker causing issues for the defence.

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

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they scored the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a powerful finish.

The visitors tried to salvage a draw late on but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

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

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, leap up to third place, three points clear of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top eight position they need to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.

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

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

Too Many Changes Proving Costly?

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

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

The coach will see squad rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' fitness and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the core group of players remains the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be different but it involves the eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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