Chelsea's Hopes Hit by Loss at Atalanta

Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to claim victory in their home stadium.

Each club entered this match with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For extended periods there was not much to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

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

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful finish.

Chelsea tried to salvage a draw late on but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase matches left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Continues

This was a hugely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to secure the top-eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents 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 visitors, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this continues Chelsea's troubling sequence of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five changes for this match as he persisted with his run of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will view rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' minutes and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he insisted the key nucleus of players remains the same for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be a change but it involves the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The ones who took to the field this evening are the ones who feature in almost all the matches."

Up Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

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