Overview
Chelsea's performance against Arsenal at the end of November - a 1-1 draw despite having to play with 10 men for most of the time - was once seen as a strong statement. Enzo Maresca's youth team has been ready to challenge in all competitions, and the limits seem to be non-existent.
However, maturity does not always progress in a straight line. Maresca's youth team has been significantly behind since that London derby. They lost 1-3 to Leeds United at Elland Road, then had to rely on luck to leave Vitality with a point in the 0-0 draw with Bournemouth last weekend.
Chelsea ended a streak of 3 away matches in a week with a trip to Bergamo to face Atalanta. This is a team that has gone through many changes since their last meeting with the English representative.
Gian Piero Gasperini, who is considered the greatest coach in Atalanta's history, left the team at the end of last season to take charge of Roma. In his 9 years of association, he has led the Lombardy region to the Champions League five times and most recently won the Europa League 2024. It was a miracle because they were rated much lower than Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen in the final.
The decision to appoint Ivan Juric to replace Gasperini caused a lot of controversy. Despite a smooth start to his time at Southampton, he failed to make progress in Serie A and was replaced by Raffaele Palladino in the second week of November when Atalanta were 13th.
The change immediately created an effect. With 3 wins in 5 matches and 11 goals scored, Palladino has breathed new life into Atalanta. Therefore, Chelsea may face a much more difficult challenge than what their position in the Serie A rankings shows.
Atalanta are not a weak team at the continental level, despite the turmoil on the coaching bench. The quality of the squad remains high, as shown by the fact that they have kept a clean sheet in 8 of the 15 Champions League matches since the beginning of last season. Of the teams participating in the tournament for two consecutive seasons, only Inter has a higher clean sheet rate (55% compared to 53%).
Meanwhile, Chelsea have endured a run of poor away form in the Champions League, failing to win in their last four games - their worst run since early 2012.
After losing to Bayern Munich and drawing with Qarabag, Maresca is in danger of becoming the third Chelsea manager to go winless away from home in his first three Champions League games, after Andre Villas-Boas (2011-2012) and Luiz Felipe Scolari (2008-2009).
Notably, the match against Atalanta will be Chelsea's 100th away match in the C1/Champions League. With 41 wins in 99 away games, they are the best English side in their first 100 games in European competition, behind only Barcelona (44).
To increase that number, Chelsea will have to focus absolutely throughout the 90 minutes. All 6 of Atalanta's goals this season in the Champions League have come in the second half, including 3 goals in just 5 minutes against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Head-to-head record
Atalanta and Chelsea will face each other for the first time in European competition, in the context that the Serie A representative has only won one of the seven previous encounters with English teams in the UEFA Champions League.
This will also be Chelsea's first away match against an Italian opponent since October 2022 - when they beat Milan 2-0 at San Siro. Before that victory, The Blues had only had one complete victory in their first 10 trips to Italy in the Champions League, a 4-0 win over Lazio in November 2003.
Score prediction: Atalanta 1-2 Chelsea
The match between Atalanta and Chelsea takes place at 3:00 am on December 10 (Vietnam time).
