Enzo Maresca has one selection dilemma above all that he must resolve at Leicester City.
Leicester’s starting XI this term has been relatively settled. Mads Hermansen has been ever-present in goal.
In front of him, Enzo Maresca has largely kept with a tried and trusted back four of Ricardo Pereira, Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes and James Justin.
Ahead of them, Harry Winks and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have dominated proceedings in midfield and Wilfred Ndidi will be thrust into the final midfield spot once he returns from injury.
On the flanks, Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi have been the Italian’s first-choice starters.
Maresca’s personnel has rarely changed throughout this campaign, but there is one position that has been rotated heavily and that is the striker.
Leicester have four options at their disposal; Patson Daka, Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho and Tom Cannon.
The quality he has leading the line has made it difficult to just stick with one, as demonstrated by his decision to drop Daka for Vardy in the 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
This selection headache is worsened by the return of Iheanacho from his AFCON exploits.
The goal record of Leicester’s strikers
At the age of 37, many would presume that Vardy’s goalscoring touch would wane but he is actually Leicester’s top scorer in all competitions this term with 11 goals in 24 matches.
Only Patson Daka, who has scored seven in 11 appearances, can beat his goal-per-minute record of 107 with the Zambian scoring once every 97 minutes.
Iheanacho, meanwhile, has only netted six times at a rate of once every 166 minutes, meaning he’s struggled to uphold the numbers of the above duo.
Cannon, who arrived from Everton for £7.5 million in the summer, suffered a difficult time with injuries at the start of his Foxes career and this prevented him from nailing down a starting.
Unfortunately, he has only featured across 11 matches, scoring three times and posting a goal every 151 minutes.
A good dilemma to have
Of course, for the likes of Cannon – whose minutes in the team have been lessened by the form of Daka and Vardy – the 21-year-old is put in a difficult position.
He departed Goodison Park expecting to play regular football and while it hasn’t happened for him just yet, it does present Maresca with a good dilemma.
He has four quality strikers to choose from, but with Premier League football on the horizon next term, it will be interesting to see whether he strengthens in that position.
Cannon isn’t proven at top flight level, Iheanacho is out of contract currently, Vardy isn’t getting any younger and Daka was hardly prolific last time.