A prolific striker can mask a multitude of sins within a side and can also carry the weight of a title challenge on their shoulders when on their best form.
But Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers are both struggling to find reliable goalscorers to drive their respective bids for supremacy.
Leigh Griffiths will be out indefinitely, leaving Odsonne Edouard as Brendan Rodgers’ only available senior striker; the club record signing will have to play every game between now and January.
Across town, Alfredo Morelos is a talismanic figure for Rangers, but has three red cards to his name already this season; he could well be set for a toe-to-toe battle with Edouard, if only he could remain on the pitch long enough.
Steven Gerrard does at least have Kyle Lafferty to call upon, but the Northern Irishman has yet to spark into life in his second spell at Ibrox.
Both sides need to limp through to the transfer window and then the title race may swing on which of them does the best business to improve their strikeforce next month.
Dominic Solanke and Jermain Defoe are two Premier League options who could help; but after a summer of contrasting approaches in the transfer market between the two sides, recruitment could again be the key to deciding the destination of the title.