Newcastle United star Callum Wilson is edging closer to fitness after suffering an early season hamstring injury.
The former Coventry City star has already declared that he welcomes "healthy competition" with Alexander Isak now on the books at United. But Eddie Howe stated he intends to play Wilson and the Sweden international together.
To do so would involve either asking one of the strikers to play slightly out of position in his tried and trusted 4-3-3 system or perhaps there could be a slight tweak in store from the Toon boss to accommodate both players.
Whether Howe operates with the duo as a front two with one of his forwards, such as Allan Saint-Maximin, Ryan Fraser or Miguel Almiron, just behind them remains to be seen. Yet Howe has the one thing he hoped for shortly after he arrived - competition for places.
The situation brings memories of a very similar dilemma for Alan Pardew back in 2012. Back then Pardew's side were in great form and playing with a 4-3-3 formation with Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse and Hatem Ben Arfa helping Newcastle into Europe as a three-pronged attack.
Cisse's £9million move from Freiburg had resulted him with him being handed the number 9 shirt and assurances he would be the main man in Pardew's attack. Transfer talks included Cisse being sold the dream of being number 9 and a look back through the history books saw him shown examples of some of the great bearers of the shirt such as Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.
He responded with a 13-goal run at the end of the 2011/12 season with his sparkling form culminating with a two-goal performance to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge with a long range curling effort that dipped and swerved over Petr Cech one of the all-time classic moments in Premier League history.
But then something changed, and not for the better as far as Newcastle were concerned. Ba made it clear he was not happy with being shunted to the left of the attack and Cisse found himself as the wide man.
Inevitably once the pair had been switched around, Cisse made his displeasure clear and friction between the duo began to emerge. It was a situation that would never be solved as Newcastle's form dipped in 2012/13 and they went from fifth place to a relegation battle in months.
Ba was sold to Chelsea after the Blues activated a release clause in his contract and while Cisse was restored to a central striking role, saving Pardew's job with last minute winners over Stoke and Fulham, the damage was already done. Cisse attempted to leave Toon but Pardew left before him in 2014.
Yet the mood is different now on Tyneside and Howe has carefully selected characters that can play together. Howe in one sense inherited Wilson when arriving last year but he is also the man who signed him at Bournemouth with the current number 9 returned.
Wilson has already made it clear that he is prepared for whatever situation arises. Speaking on his brilliant BBC podcast, Wilson said: "The competition is good. Competition is healthy. We’ll probably play together, we’ll probably replace each other at some point. Like I say, it’s only going to be a positive thing."
With that in mind, Howe is facing what can be considered a welcome dilemma. Supporters dream of healthy partnerships like Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer, and if Wilson and Isak get half of the goals the England aces conjured up in 1996/97 when they yielded 49 between them.
Incredibly, Kenny Dalglish saw fit to sell Ferdinand to Tottenham months later. But history tells us that having a pair of goal-getters both pushing for the same dreams can be a great thing if it is managed properly.
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