Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is hoping Yoane Wissa can bring the best out of Nick Woltemade with his new-look £124million ($169m) strike-force now fit and available.
Record £69m signing Woltemade has had to lead the line this season after fellow summer signing Wissa picked up a knee injury on international duty before he had kicked a ball for the club, but the £55m capture started and scored for the first time in Wednesday night's Carabao Cup quarterfinal win over Fulham.
Head coach Howe, who has a defensive injury crisis ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash with Chelsea, has not ruled out playing the two together but knows Wissa's style of play is more closely aligned to that of the departed Alexander Isak than the Germany international who replaced him.
He said: "Yoane is probably more closely linked to Alex's style without being Alex himself. Yoane has got his own strengths, and his running in behind in particular on Wednesday night, I thought, was excellent.
"His movement for slip passes and for stretching their backline, I thought, was right out of the top drawer. It was a great lesson for any young striker to watch his movement in that game.
"He's his own man and he will bring his own strengths. It's great to have him available and I think having that player there will benefit Nick as well, so he definitely makes us stronger."
Newcastle head into the game having booked a third Carabao Cup semi-final in four seasons and targeting qualification for the Champions League knockout stage, but sitting 12th in the league table after a start to the campaign during which they have struggled to reproduce the fluency of recent seasons.
Howe acknowledges Isak's £125m exit for Liverpool after a summer-long saga has had an impact in that respect, but is adamant it is not the only issue in a season where a packed schedule has limited time on the training pitch.
He said: "Alex's role in the team, obviously, was so important. He was leading the line and whenever you have that player in that position with the multi-skills that he had, you're going to be a slightly different team.
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"That's not to say that Nick can't be hugely successful here and the team can't be successful with him in it, but we just need to find ways to play better and feel those rhythms and partnerships that we pride ourselves on."
Newcastle will welcome Chelsea to St James' Park desperate to erase the better memories of last weekend's derby defeat at Sunderland, but with full-back Tino Livramento having joined a lengthy injury list with a knee problem which will sideline him into the new year.
Howe said: "I don't think it's a serious injury. The complication we have is Tino has injured that knee before in a very similar area, so that always makes the potential recovery time a little bit longer, so I don't think we'll see him possibly before 2026."