A chance for Jens Lehmann to get even. The Arsenal goalkeeper has played four times for Germany this season and only three times for his club, but he will start tonight against Steaua Bucharest as Arsène Wenger rests his regulars before Sunday’s derby with Chelsea.

Lehmann was dropped in August after making mistakes in Arsenal’s first two Barclays Premier League matches, then suffering an elbow injury. When Joachim Löw, the Germany head coach, said that he wanted Lehmann to play regularly in the build-up to Euro 2008, it prompted reports of a return to his homeland. Wenger said yesterday, however, that “we have not been in touch with anybody”, even though VfL Wolfsburg are interested in signing the 38-year-old, who lost his place to Manuel Almunia.

A spokesman for Volkswagen, which owns the club, said yesterday that “a switch to Wolfsburg would be best for Jens and for Wolfsburg” and that “in the next two weeks things will become clear”. Wenger, for his part, did not pledge to block a transfer in January. “We haven’t spoken about that,” the manager said. “I cannot guarantee [he will stay], like for anybody else.”

Wenger said the decision to play Lehmann was made once it was clear that this evening’s fixture would hold little meaning, which suggests it is a sop rather than a path towards selection for the match with Chelsea.

“It’s good for him to keep at a competitive level,” Wenger said. “I’d decided when we’d qualified that the game in Spain [against Seville] would be played by Almunia, the game in England by Lehmann.”

The German would probably have preferred to have played in Spain because he is not likely to feel overworked. Steaua are on their third coach of the season, Marius Lacatus, and are bottom of group H with one point after scoring three times in five games, but expect the Romanians to be motivated.

Gigi Becali, Steaua’s owner, has said he would cut players’ wages and bonuses so they would have to “borrow from the banks if they want to spend money for Christmas”. He also plans a transfer strategy inspired by his earlier career as a shepherd. “I was killing the old sheep for meat and I was selling the lame sheep to replace them with new, young sheep able to produce healthy lambs,” he said.

Lehmann was no sheep in toeing the party line: in October he said that he felt “humiliated” by his “dear manager”. So Wenger’s praise yesterday for the goalkeeper’s conduct during his exile was surprisingly unstinting. “You cannot fault him, he is super- professional, an example for everybody,” he said.

Robin van Persie returns to the squad having recovered from a knee injury that kept him out for two months and Abou Diaby is fit again, but Cesc Fàbregas, Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini are still absent.

So is Wenger: he will watch from the stands at the Emirates Stadium as he serves the first touchline ban of his career, after being sent from the dugout in the defeat by Seville last month. Arsenal must win and hope Seville do not beat Slavia Prague if the Londoners are to finish top and avoid giants such as AC Milan and Barcelona in the next round. Wenger’s lineup will, however, be influenced by the test that awaits this weekend.

If Avram Grant’s assertion that the defeat by Middlesbrough shows Arsenal struggle to cope with injuries was an attempt to provoke some verbal jousting, Wenger was not interested. “We focus on ourselves and our performances,” he said. “The players that come in [tonight] are very good and good enough to play against Chelsea. There is no ‘Carling Cup side’. I had one before, but now I feel they are a bit older and all these players have moved upwards to the first-team squad.”

How they line up

Arsenal (possible; 4-4-2): J Lehmann - J Hoyte, P Senderos, W Gallas, A Traoré – E Eboué, Gilberto Silva, L Diarra, A Diaby – T Walcott, N Bendtner.

Steaua Bucharest (possible; 4-4-1-1): R Zapata – I Emeghara, D Goian, I Rada, M Nesu – A Neaga, O Petre, F Lovin, V Cristocea – N Dica – V Badea. Referee: Y Baskakov (Russia).

Television: Live on Sky Sports 2 from 6pm (kick-off 7.45pm).