There is a timeline where it’s sunshines, rainbows and lollipops. In this timeline all of us are happy and have achieved everything we have ever wanted to and more. In this timeline we haven’t had to worry about people called Fernando or Andriy.

It’s a timeline where the bright-eyed teenage Romelu Lukaku never lost his optimism or passion for Chelsea, one where he didn’t miss that penalty last summer against Bayern Munich and one where he stayed at the club last season and scored 30 goals.

It’s a timeline where Diego Costa’s stunning season didn’t peter out due to injury, one where he won the first ever Champions League trophy for Atletico Madrid scoring in the final and one where he won the Golden Boot at the World Cup (with Lukaku close behind, of course).

It’s a timeline where the two players join together to become the most feared strike partnership in Europe, leaving ‘Who-uis’ Suarez and Daniel ‘Sturreh’ in the dust.

The soon to be Chelsea striker in action for SpainGeoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Chelsea are a team, since Mourinho’s first outing as manager, who have played with primarily one striker. The turn of the century saw the partnership of Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen tear up defences but since then the Blues have played mostly with one man up top in either a 4-3-3 formation or a 4-2-3-1. We’ve had varying degrees of success from the highs of Drogba and Crespo fighting for the spot in the team to the unfortunate and underwhelming Chelsea careers of Kezman and Shevchenko.

For the first time in a decade however Chelsea are faced with a conundrum that can’t be ignored. We will potentially have two of the brightest centre forwards in the world (should the club manage to get Lukaku to stop throwing his toys out of his pram) lining up in Chelsea blue when the season kicks off against Burnley on August 16th and I am equal parts excited and relieved.

There are two possible options open to the Portuguese manager assuming both players are at the club:

Maintain the 4-2-3-1 formation employed for most of last season with Costa as first choice centre forward and have Lukaku fighting for his place in the team, or; change to a 4-2-2-2 formation that was used by Manuel Pelligrini at Man City last season (though it’s worth noting that this system doesn’t make room for a player in the hole playing the number 10 role which might stifle creativity somewhat).

Lukaku celebrating after scoring in a friendly for Chelsea against Roma last seasonPaul Frederiksen-USA TODAY Sports

On the surface Lukaku and Costa are quite similar players. They are both quick, strong, good in the air and versatile at holding up play as a target man. The distinction however is a bit clearer when you see them on the pitch. Simply put, Costa is at this stage a more refined player than Lukaku which is to be expected considering the latter is only 21 years of age. In a best case scenario Lukaku, when he is at Costa’s age, will be as good if not better than the Spazillian in that number 9 position.

While it remains to be seen whether Mourinho will play the two together, we will get a decent idea of the shape of the team in the pre-season fixtures later this month and hopefully (fingers crossed) at least the future of the timeline I described earlier will cross over with our own.