Arsène Wenger yesterday spoke of his desire to stay at Arsenal for the rest of his working life, though Jens Lehmann may not have that luxury. The Arsenal manager confirmed that the Germany goalkeeper would not play in tomorrow’s North London derby and refused to give him any reassurances over his long-term future.

Manuel Almunia will start in goal against Tottenham Hotpsur and, for the moment at least, can call himself Arsenal’s No 1. Lehmann has not played since making two horrendous errors in the first two Barclays Premier League games of the season, against Fulham and Blackburn Rovers, and it is unclear when he will return. Wenger claims he is still struggling with an elbow injury that he suffered at Ewood Park, but the 37-year-old was fit enough to play in Germany’s European Championship qualifying match against Wales last Saturday and would have played against Romania on Wednesday had it been a competitive fixture.

Lehmann sounded out several clubs about a return to Germany towards the end of August without finding any takers, but is likely to go looking for another club again in January if his situation does not improve. Wenger is ruthless when he considers a player to be past his best, as he showed with the departures of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry. “Almunia will start tomorrow in goal,” Wenger said. “Lehmann has an elbow injury, he had to pull out of Germany’s second game and he still has bone bruising from that game against Blackburn.

“At the moment I don’t know if I’d pick him if he was fit. I didn’t really wonder ‘do I do that?’ I knew yesterday he couldn’t play so for me it’s continuity at the moment.

“It’s down to them who will be first choice when they’re both fit. It’s difficult, but that’s not the only difficult decision I have, there’s competition in every position. Do I play Gilberto [Silva] on Saturday? He only comes back on Friday [today] so it’s very open for Saturday’s [tomorrow’s] game.”

The short trip to White Hart Lane is Arsenal’s first match since Wenger signed a new three-year contract last week. A deal that ties him to the club until 2011 and the Frenchman yesterday explained the special circumstances that have led him to devote 15 years of his life to a single club, with Arsenal’s board giving him its total support and freedom to operate as he wishes.

The contrast with Tottenham could not be starker, with Martin Jol, the manager, fearing for his job after the club were linked to Juande Ramos, the Seville manager, last month. “I am at a stage in my career now where I don’t want to be associated with anyone else,” Wenger said. “It is like a marriage. You need clear rules at the start, you have the freedom to accept them or not. I feel I need full technical responsibility, maybe others like to share that.

“I met this club at the right moment of my life. I was mature enough to give what I had learnt. I had difficult times at the start, but the club was always behind me. There are periods when you go through difficult times, but I had the freedom to work with my ideas. I had the support of the club and the fans. That is the biggest luxury in the job.”