Mark Hughes has said he could be tempted to bring back Peter Crouch for the visit to Everton this weekend.
Crouch made his first appearance of the season on Tuesday as he grabbed a hat-trick in the 4-0 EFL Cup win at Stevenage, and Hughes has indicated the 35-year-old striker could keep his place at Goodison Park.
"Peter has given me something to think about, clearly, and that is what I want," Hughes said.
"Maybe last year, most of our strikers played a decent number of games - some will argue maybe not enough, but they all had chances - and maybe it's fair to say not one of them really grabbed the shirt and said 'this is mine to lose'.
"In fairness, different opposition required players with different attributes, so sometimes changes were made because of that. Sometimes when we were away from home we needed different types of player.
"But I maybe needed more of them to score goals and say they are staying in the team. I'm not saying it is definitive yet, but my decision on it (Crouch's involvement on Saturday) certainly will be shaped by what happened on Tuesday night.
"He has been in to see me a couple of times (about the amount of game time he is getting), but I would expect that.
"Peter is a unique player in terms of what he can bring to the table and if he gets the right service he can be very difficult to stop."
Hughes is hoping for another successful trip to Goodison Park - but a less eventful one than last December which saw a memorable 4-3 win.
He said: "We enjoy going there. We had a fantastic game there last season. Clearly the result went our way, but it could have gone either way. It was a great game for everybody who was there just to watch it.
"I'd take the same result, but maybe with less dramatic moments because there were too many goals and too many incidents!"