Chris Hughton has never played with a false number nine.

He may have to if Glenn Murray is not fit to return to action when Albion play next at Leicester.

The left ankle injury sustained by Jurgen Locadia in the FA Cup win over Derby places a big question mark over the Dutchman's availability for next Tuesday's visit to the East Midlands.

The Argus: Florin Andone (above) completes a three-match suspension for his retrospective punishment by the FA for a stray elbow in the fourth round of the Cup at West Brom.

That leaves Murray, who was prevented from starting the Derby tie by a calf problem.

Andone will be available again for a key home game against doomed Huddersfield, but Albion are not in a position to pick and choose where they might get points.

They badly need Murray back for Leicester and fit and firing for the rest of the season.

They are dependent on his goals, together with those Shane Duffy (below) is providing from set pieces.

The Argus: Between them they are responsible for more than half of Albion's Premier League total. No other player has scored more than twice.

Last season the Seagulls scored too little and conceded too often from set plays. That has been put right, so Duffy's tally should be seen as a positive.

The negative is the high dependency on Murray to deliver the goods.

In spite of the recent poor run, Hughton's side, with the fixtures ahead, remain well-placed to stay up.

Attention will then turn again once more to the summer transfer window, which will be Dan Ashworth's first as technical director.

A priority must be signing another striker.

Murray will be 36 in September. He looks after himself and still has a lot to offer.

The natural development of the squad would see Murray as less of a regular starter and more as a goal scoring option from the bench, a role he has performed to great effect in the FA Cup both last season and this season.

The jury is still out on Locadia, who played through the middle against Derby after a run of games on the left of the front three.

The strong-running and combative Andone looks a good acquisition, although he was never a particularly prolific scorer in Spain.

Albion were keen on Dominic Solanke in January before the former Liverpool prospect joined Bournemouth for £19 million.

That is an indication the club transfer record will have to be broken again for Albion to be armed with four strikers instead of three.

Under-23s sharpshooter Aaron Connolly will benefit from a loan spell at Luton once he is fit-again and probably another loan spell after that.

The Argus: Viktor Gyokeres (above) has forced his way into contention and the forward-thinking capture last month of Argentinian Alexis Mac Allister could provide another attacking option, depending on how quickly he adapts and develops.

There is a lot to like about the look of Albion's squad after two summer transfer windows in the Premier League.

They have much more depth and in several cases the best could well be yet to come - especially from Bernardo, Yves Bissouma and Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

Overall, Albion have scored 62 Premier League goals since promotion.

Murray has contributed 22 of them, Pascal Gross nine, Duffy and Jose Izquierdo five.

Izquierdo, now back in training after a recurrence of knee trouble, has been missed. It was always going to be difficult for Gross, ruled out earlier in the season, to emulate his impressive debut campaign when he was an unknown quantity.

Murray is only two short of his total last season. Relying on him to the extent that Albion do is, going forward, what needs to change.