It seems pretty clear that 2017-18 will see up reprise our new tactic of playing three at the back, given the success if brought for the last quarter of the season just gone even (or perhaps especially) taking into account the changing personnel during that period.

Clearly, Theo cannot play as one of the goalkeeper, three centre backs or two central midfielders in that system, which really only leaves five positions for which to even contemplate his suitability.

Realistically, while he can do a job as an attacking left sided player, he’s never going to cope as a left wing back.

Indeed, even right wing back would be a push, because while Theo can do a passable job of tracking a full back and blocking passing avenues, his tackling ability is limited and the idea of him facing an opposing left back and left winger concurrently fills me with dread.

We’re getting better at providing some cover for our wing backs, but not enough to contemplate playing Walcott there other than against the very weakest of opposition.

So where does that leave us?

The three positions left are the three forward positions, and given that the two more withdrawn of those are currently occupied by our two best players (by most people’s measures at least) that seems fairly limiting.

Barring a departure this summer, you would have to think Theo has no chance of replacing either Alexis or Ozil as one of the support forwards.

So we are back to the old conundrum – can we (and should we) play Theo at centre forward?

Part of 3-4-2-1 is to allow fast counter attacks, which in theory suits a speedy forward.

However, it means playing a lone striker against two or even three centre backs, and we’ve seen Theo bullied in such circumstances back when we played 4-2-3-1.

There are also plenty of occasions when we’re not counter-attacking (goal kicks, games against overly negative opposition) and with Alexis strong on effort but weak on height, and Ozil stronger on height but weaker on effort, we don’t have much aerial ability to negate Theo’s similar lack of skillset.

There’s no other genuine aerial presence in the front half of our team, and with a small forward we’re left with the unavoidable tactic of playing out from the back every time or else just giving the ball straight back to the opposition.

We’ve seen Tottenham, Liverpool and Man City take that approach to extremes at times last season to good, bad and indifferent effect. Playing out is good, doing so too often is predictable, and ultimately more dangerous.

Playing Theo as a lone striker is not an absolute no-no, and could suit certain games quite well, but it’s still not a tactic I would expect to see us employ on a regular basis.

Giroud is about as diametrically opposed to Walcott as it’s possible to be – his height and bulk make him the ideal foil for our other aerially challenged forwards. When Danny Welbeck is fit, what he gives up to Theo in finishing ability, he makes up with power to match his pace, offering an alternative Olivier Giroud’s interlink play without giving up too much in height.

Throw in the potential arrival of Lacazette and the waters are further muddied.

So if Theo is not to be a regular starter, is there a place for him on the substitutes’ bench instead?