It has to be Eidur and Jimmy

"Even if you play well you could still find yourself on the bench for the next match. The result is that you cannot get into a rhythm as a striker."

Four goals in his last 120 minutes of football suggest Chelsea's leading scorer is now hitting the right notes and he would point to a formidable record against Arsenal as another reason for his inclusion at Highbury.

While Chelsea have not beaten Arsene Wenger's side for 17 matches, Hasselbaink has personally enjoyed good fortune taking on Arsenal's miserly back four. How many other Premiership strikers can boast seven career goals against the Gunners?

Another telling statistic is his partnership with Gudjohnsen. In their nine starts as a partnership this season, Chelsea have won eight and drawn once.

Hasselbaink and Mutu may have been more prolific - with 14 goals in their 12 games together - but the combination have also twice finished on the losing side.

At the start of the season, Ranieri would probably have envisaged that by April his preferred striking duo would be Crespo and Mutu, yet that pairing has a poor record, suffering four defeats from nine matches.

In the Champions League, Hasselbaink has started only once - in the 2-0 'away' victory against Besiktas, played in Germany.

However, Gudjohnsen has been a regular in Ranieri's midweek teams, scoring three times in Europe this season.

The Icelander broke the deadlock in the quarter-final first leg 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. He also repeated his feat in Chelsea's 2-1 Premiership loss to Arsenal in February and started alongside Hasselbaink in Saturday's 1-0 victory over Tottenham.

The pair's impressive understanding and goal threat has not escaped the notice of a clutch of former Chelsea strikers who today warned Ranieri to tinker at his peril.

Peter Osgood said: "You have to play the strikers who are in form. Mutu and Crespo have not done it yet, so I would stick with the pair who are scoring goals - Jimmy and Eidur. Jimmy seems to score whenever he comes in.

"Crespo has been very disappointing. He's a good player but it's taking time for him to settle in a new team. Mutu's not scored the goals even though he works his socks off."

It is a view echoed by the club's record goalscorer, Bobby Tambling.

He said: "I have always liked Jimmy. He's an out-and-out goalscorer and he's in a rich vein of form at the moment. As a striker, when you're hot you're hot so I think he should be in the team. Eidur seems to play well against Arsenal, he's scored in the last two games against them. I would play those two as strikers with Mutu as back-up.

"I think both Mutu and Crespo are excellent strikers, but they need a bit longer to bed themselves in.

"I saw Mutu against Arsenal in the league game. He likes to make early runs behind the defence, but the other Chelsea players were not anticipating this. It may take some time for the right kind of understanding to develop."

Hasselbaink and Gudjohnsen both arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2000 so they have had nearly four seasons to build their partnership. This should be a crucial factor in Ranieri's team selection, according to Gavin Peacock, the former Blues striker turned media pundit.

He said: "I would go with Gudjohnsen and Hasselbaink. Jimmy has been in great form recently with four goals in his last two games, while Eidur looks sharp and his all-round play is good.

"They have a decent understanding and both have responded well to the challenge of others coming in. Crespo has struggled with his fitness, while Mutu started really well but is suffering from a lack of confidence in front of goal."

The statistics do not lie, but what lessons Ranieri chooses to take from them remains the £33m question.