ROBIN van Persie’s partnership with Wayne Rooney at Manchester United is turning into the perfect combination.

A combination of Van Persie’s lack of pre-season training and Rooney’s gashed thigh meant the pair did not start in the same team together until the Champions League trip to Cluj.

Even then Rooney was in a deep-lying midfield role, as he was at Newcastle six days later.

Something must have been going right though because United won both games, and they maintained that sequence at Old Trafford on Saturday when Rooney was pushed further forward against Stoke.

Even better as far as Sir Alex Ferguson is concerned, Rooney and Van Persie both found the net.

That the pair were also responsible for three of the four assists just proves what potential there is from United’s new strike force.

‘‘We are definitely getting more of an understanding,’’ Van Persie said.

‘‘We like to play together and work well together.

‘‘It is only the second or third time we have played in this formation but offensively and defensively, we help each other out.’’ The ability of both players to operate as the spearhead of United’s attack, or drop deep, or push out wide, provides a conundrum it will be difficult for any defence to solve.

Danny Welbeck is also capable of making a significant contribution and with Javier Hernandez, Nani, Shinji Kagawa and Ashley Young also offering a threat, it is little wonder Ferguson currently views attack as the best form of defence.

‘‘We do look exciting going forward,’’ added the Dutchman.

‘‘We can score all sorts of goals from many different angles.

‘‘That is a good sign and should be a real weapon for us as the season goes on.’’ If that is true, then concerns about the defensive side of United’s game are also valid.

The return of Chris Smalling clearly cannot come quickly enough to take some pressure off Jonny Evans and Rio Ferdinand, whose status at United is open to question following his refusal to wear a t-shirt highlighting Kick It Out’s anti-racism campaign.

It had been anticipated Smalling would be available to face Stoke, only for Ferguson to reveal on Friday the former Fulham man still was not quite right after recovering from a broken metatarsal.