There were no answers to Chelsea’s search for consistency here. Instead they supplied more evidence that they lack the resilience for a Champions League tilt that may now have to be tackled the hard way. This damaging late defeat completed a grim week on the road and had implications for the longer-term picture. They are staring down the barrel of a February playoff that could stretch Enzo Maresca’s side, active almost year-round, to the very limit.
Atalanta twice punished weak defending and, crucially, preyed on their opponents’ inability to overcome setbacks. It is a problem Chelsea cannot quite shrug off and, at this level, such recidivism comes at a cost. When Charles De Ketelaere, the game’s outstanding player, blasted in a deflected winner after being invited to take aim they could hardly claim not to have been warned.
The tone of the occasion had shifted with Gianluca Scamacca’s 55th‑minute equaliser, until which point Chelsea appeared to have dulled the home threat. They were looking more likely to score another of their own when the hulking former West Ham striker somehow drifted away from their centre-backs to nod De Ketelaere’s cross past a horribly exposed Robert Sánchez. The keeper needed more help than that and it may not be unduly harsh to suggest that his manager could have provided it.
It could be taken as read that Maresca would rotate so there were few eyebrows raised when he made five changes from the team that trudged forgettably through Saturday at Bournemouth. But the half‑time substitution of Trevoh Chalobah, who was replaced by Wesley Fofana, was not straight from the textbook.
Maresca explained that it was a planned move to manage Chalobah’s playing time, adding the defender was on a yellow card. He could not have foreseen that Fofana would last half an hour before succumbing to an eye injury but it highlighted the risk factor of tinkering.
Fofana’s departure, caused by accidental contact from Scamacca that left him struggling for clear vision, meant Tosin Adarabioyo was next to have a go at restricting Atalanta.
The hosts already scented blood and another reorganisation was hardly ideal. “It changed a little bit the plan of the game,” said Maresca, who had kept Estêvão Willian up his sleeve but had now filled his quota of changes. Chelsea were already listing. “After we conceded the goal for 1-1 we lost control of the game a little bit. I think we can avoid both goals, they’re quite easy goals.”
De Ketelaere’s path to glory was certainly simplified by the extent to which Benoît Badiashile and Marc Cucurella backpedaled as he broke from midway inside Chelsea’s half and bore deep into their penalty area. One of them could have faced the Belgian down well before he got that far. Cucurella’s punishment was the snick that gave Sánchez, whose hand to the ball was not enough, little chance and left Chelsea nursing a single point from three away games in Europe.
The frustration was that they had survived a stiff early examination and looked well placed to push on. Sánchez had denied Ademola Lookman and Josh Acheampong, on his first Champions League start, had earned acclaim from several teammates with a point-blank block from the same player.
When they finally put a move together, it reaped dividends. The flag was initially raised when João Pedro neatly snicked in a low cross from Reece James, who had been sent to the left byline after a short-corner routine. But replays immediately made clear the decision would not survive a video assistant referee check and, within a minute, their advantage was confirmed. It was João Pedro’s first goal in this competition and a well-timed intervention given Liam Delap will spend around a month out with his shoulder injury.
Fast-forward to the game’s final meaningful kick and João Pedro would be wincing, having failed to make clean contact with a glorious late volleyed chance that was aimed straight at Marco Carnesecchi. It was not as if Chelsea, for all their skittish defensive work, lacked opportunities to change the complexion. Before Scamacca escaped their clutches they had been pushing to open up an insurmountable lead, James drilling wide when given a decent sight and Jamie Gittens stinging Carnesecchi’s palms.
They were made to regret not turning the screw. That emotion may be heightened if they are forced to accept a playoff spot and, more happily, beat Cardiff in the Carabao Cup quarter-final next week. Put together, those eventualities would add separate two-legged ties to their winter schedule and mean they face 21 games between now and the end of February.
“We are aware, absolutely,” Maresca said of that particular spectre. “Probably with two wins you can be in the top eight.” They will need to come against Pafos and, fiendishly, at Napoli. For now, though, Chelsea must simply crave home comforts.
