top 3 teams are playing without a proper centre forward. And this is why they're at/near the top of the table.

Don't get me wrong - Laca's played well in the last 2 games. But he's basically been playing as a false 9/9.5/no.10, dropping deep into MF as opposed to hanging on the shoulder of the last defender.

In his first half season, before we signed Auba, He had the likes of Ozil, Alexis, Iwobi, Welbeck etc, and only Alexis scored regularly.

Now he has Gabby, Ode, Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe. So he has more to work with when he drops deep.

Laca is probably going to leave on a free at the end of the season. And I'd like all four named above to be starters.

I know the obvious call would be Gabby central with Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe out wide. But I think Gabby's better on the left wing. He'll often be on the last shoulder meaning that if ESR drops deep, he's got that attacking outlet.

ESR's got a great shot on him as the goals this season are proving.

Obviously we'll need a new striker and to sort out MF. {AMN has one game, wins MotM, and hasn't played since. If we've frozen out Pépé, we should at least try AMN in place of Partey or Xhaka.}

ESR's got 6 in 15 in the league. 0.4 goals a game. While Laca - excluding this season with only 2 in 12 - has season totals between 0.33 and 0.44.

ESR doesn't take penalties, scores as much as Laca and offers us all that additional creativity.

I think we should consider it. Give it a go in one game and see what happens.