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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a late winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were dealt a blow as Atalanta fought back to win in Bergamo.

Each club entered this match with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For extended periods there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a threat going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the backline.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the pressure 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 they got the winner late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a driven finish.

Chelsea tried to salvage a point in stoppage time but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage games left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Persists

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight finish they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta took full advantage.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning streak of form in all competitions.

Since beating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four games.

Too Many Changes Proving Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he continued his run of moving players in and out of the first team.

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

The coach will view squad rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he insisted the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for important games.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did compared to the previous game it is different but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next European game sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.