4 goals for Luke in 26 games for Derby (Wikipedia tells me) so not earth shattering though from reports he contributed a few assists and it was a difficult environment.

Relegation battle, 19 years old leading the line up front. Could be his level is beyond the U23s and we will have Akinwale moving up I imagine. On loan sounds a decent bet but let's hope he surprises us and can compete for the first team.

They're not great options though, are they? Mateta, while improving recently, is nowhere near the level. Eduoard, while showing quality, clearly isn't consistent enough and doesn't have PV's backing. Ayew...yeah, he won't be a regular forward for us...and Zaha wants to play wide. Plange...untested at this level. Gamble.

Benteke, while seemingly out of favour, still has quality and offers us something no other striker has. Wouldn't be selling him until we undoubtedly upgrade.

Agreed. He has a reluctance to run, press and work. None of our other strikers have that reluctance.

Played well today, still looks somewhat unsure, perhaps low on confidence, to me anyways. He and others may just still be adapting to how Vieira wants to play, not just how they want/are used to. Just a thought.

I think Edouard has the potential to be a very good player for us. I would suggest it's way too early to rule him out purely because he hasn't set the world alight. If next season proves fruitless, we may well start looking at other options, including that of selling him. I definitely hope this isn't the case.

Just a small point, perhaps not even a correct one, but I do remember thinking on a number occasions this afternoon, when my eyes scanned a bit more broadly, we were lacking a final pass? I'm not talking about during moves down the wing or quicker breaks forward etc. Sometimes we'd have the ball in advanced positions, sometimes even with the CBs, and I could see plenty of decent movement up front but no pass was forthcoming, it inevitably went sideways or even just out wide.

COYP