England boss Fabio Capello believes Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe have had their "chemical moment" and are developing the perfect partnership.
The pair will lead England's attacking force in tonight's Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland in Basle after Rooney declared himself in the right frame of mind to play.
Capello greeted the news with glee, having seen how well Rooney adapted to a new deeper-lying role in Friday's victory over Bulgaria at Wembley.
The Manchester United star may now be on a run of 11 international games without a goal. But he provided three assists in the four-goal triumph and made a major contribution to Defoe's opener.
It rather dumps the theory that Defoe and Rooney are too similar to play alongside each other, with Capello believing there is more to come.
"Sometimes over the course of a season it is like players have a chemical moment. I can see that in them now," said the Italian.
"Against Bulgaria, Defoe's movement was fantastic and Rooney's passing was fantastic.
"Rooney has played in a lot of different positions, left wing in the Champions League, as a lone centre-forward and in midfield.
"On Friday I asked him to play just in front of their two central defenders.
"He had a lot of possession, was free to move around the pitch and was really good with the ball at his feet.
"He is so technically strong his passing was excellent."
Little wonder Capello did not give much thought to letting Rooney return home to sort out his troubled domestic life.
A quick chat was all it took for Capello to be convinced his star striker's mind was right following damaging weekend allegations.
However, the Italian is aware how quickly things can change, which is why he will send Rooney out at St Jakob Park with one last word of warning.
"At different moments you have to separate the private life and the job," he said.
"You have to be strong to divide the two. You have to live the job really well and find solutions to the problems.
"The first part is my job. The other is his problem."
Unless he was contemplating something really radical like dropping Theo Walcott for Adam Johnson, once Rooney confirmed his desire to board the flight from Luton yesterday Capello had only one real decision to make about his starting line-up.
Phil Jagielka only won his fifth cap on Friday but Capello has sufficient confidence in the 28-year-old to nominate him as "the driver of the back four".
Gary Cahill has the edge in the scrap to partner him, having been introduced from the bench on Friday after Michael Dawson had been carried off with a knee injury that will sideline him for eight weeks.
Matthew Upson has the experience although Capello is giving little away about the way he is starting to lean.
