In truth, losing DCL would also not be the end of the world for a lot of games, which sounds bizarre as someone who is a massive fan of him. Losing him when he's on this scoring glut would be awful, but I'm sure he will "regress to mean" at some point and be on course for 25 goals this season (which is world class in domestic comps).
However Richarlinson can fill it at 9 and is probably more rounded than DCL and may even go up another notch. Iwobi/Gordon can come in on the left, and provide a different threat, while lesser than Richarlinson not so much lesser. I think Richarlinson would be dynamite on the counter as well, even more so than DCL. I suspect it's why Carlo has played him in there in the last 20 of games, where we need to counter. DCL is learnign this, and improving, but Richarlinson is very good.
You are right though, we have to gamble a bit. There will be games where 1 of them isn't playing, and at times maybe 2 are not playing. The argument is, and I've put the shout for Buendia, but is he better than say Gordon or Iwobi? Thats going to be the question.
The only lose game we've really had was Palace away, and the rest you sense if 1 of the above 3 was missing we'd have had enough, though it may have been close. We need Pickford to stop throwing it in the net, so on days where they are not at their best, or a couple are missing we can win ugly.
These are very much the discussions and levels you have when you compete for the league though. If we fall short of getting there this season, it's by no means a failure. If we can finish in the top 4, with everything else thats happening here, we will be attracting a whole ne calibre of player as we begin to add.
We also have to bear in mind, January is not a long way away. It's 2.5 months. If something horrendous happens, we can put it right quite quickly.
The other 2
