Van Bronckhorst: New midfield axis with Vieira (BenRadford/Allsport)

Patrick Vieira and Giovanni van Bronckhorst might well emulate the Vieira-Petit central midfield axis around which Arsenal achieved so much success.

Wenger, who repeatedly blamed his team's shortcomings on Emmanuel Petit's departure last year to Barcelona, has put a great deal of faith in his £8.5million signing from Rangers.

Van Bronckhorst, seen by many as Holland's natural successor to Edgar Davids, already believes Arsenal can challenge for the Premiership.

With Vieira having apparently withdrawn his threats to leave Arsenal, Wenger took the chance to test the partnership in the second half of Wednesday night's 4-1 defeat to Turks Kocaelispor in Austria.

Wenger said: 'This is when you can find out which combinations work and I specifically wanted to look at Vieira and Van Bronckhorst. It looks good already, especially going forward. They balance each other.'

Vieira is still saying nothing about anything, not even a Hoddle-esque, 'I never said them things', for the benefit of the fans who have endured a fretful summer wondering where his agent would fetch up next, but Van Bronckhorst said: 'It's always nice to hear the manager is happy with you and, of course, Wednesday was just our first game together.

'I think it went well, considering that we're just getting used to each other and Patrick has only been training for a week.

'It's a partnership that will get better, I think that' s obvious. In central midfield, it's good to have a right-footed player like Patrick and a left-footed player like Petit or myself.

'I know people will compare me with Petit and that's part of coming to a new club, when you have to start all over again.

'I begin here from zero. I have to show that I was the right buy - that's what I'm aiming for. In the summer, I wasn't so worried about Patrick. I had a good gut feeling that he'd stay.

'Of course I'm very glad that he's staying because he's such quality, the type we need in the team. I think it was a storm on the outside, not the inside, and he looks a happy player to me.'

What would make Vieira truly happy, apart from playing alongside Zinedine Zidane for Real Madrid, is Arsenal mounting a serious challenge for the top honours this season.

His new sidekick believes Manchester United have had the run of the Premiership too long - and that Arsenal are best placed to challenge.

Van Bronckhorst said: 'A team like Arsenal have to go for all the prizes. Last year they almost won the FA Cup but didn't get so close in the championship. For me, that must be the first goal, to win the Premiership. I know Manchester United have bought Juan Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy but I think we can challenge that and challenge them.

'We have world-class players. United have played very well in the last couple of years and it's up to us, at Arsenal, to beat them. That starts with the first game against Middlesbrough.'

Wenger is more convinced than ever of the need for an enlarged squad, preparing himself to use a minimum of 20 players on a regular basis - if Arsenal congest their fixture list by succeeding on all fronts.

He talks openly about rotation, especially up front, though he claims to know his best strike partnership. On tinkering with central defence, Wenger is a little more reticent. Sol Campbell has not signed to sit on the bench, so either Tony Adams or Martin Keown will have to make way sooner or later.

Keown said: 'It's the start of a new beginning, with a lot of new signings. It's up to us to make this era successful.

'We've been a young team in European terms over the past few seasons. Now we've got a squad with the right sort of experience and have grown up as a group.

'Sol is an outstanding player, the sort of signing that sends out a message.

'Enough has been said about Patrick. The fans love him, nothing has changed there, and he's 100 per cent committed to playing - I haven't got a problem with that.

'He is one of the best I've ever played with and he's a big team player.'

Exactly which big team Vieira had in mind just a few weeks ago still is not all that clear.