Twelve years at Arsenal and Wenger admits: 'I spend all my time worrying'

‘I told my wife: "At 55, I stop, I promise you" and at 55, I said 60. Now I don’t speak any more,’ said the 58-year-old Arsenal manager, who will be 61 when his contract expires in 2011.

Twelve years and counting: Arsene Wenger celebrates a dozen years in the stress-filled Arsenal hot seat - but has no plans to retire

‘I will give myself to the end of my contract and then have a serious checkpoint. You don’t want to go on too long. I don’t want to walk away at the moment but in two or three years, things can change in any job.

‘I am super-motivated. I have the desire but that desire can go. My strength can go. You have to be conscious of that in a job where you have to have your health first of all to cope with the demands.’

Wenger has won three Barclays Premier League titles and four FA Cups but finds it hard to contain his excitement when he talks about the potential of his latest crop of young players.

It could feasibly evolve into his greatest work - a dashing young team nurtured from the academy he inspired himself - and he is not likely to quit with it is still in progress. It
could embody everything he has worked towards since arriving in 1996.

'When I arrived I would have laughed if someone had said I’d be here 12 years,’ said Wenger.

‘I am not very happy to speak about my anniversary because what interests me in life is what is in front of me and not what is behind me. If you came to my house, you wouldn’t find anything from the past 12 years.

‘This is part of the sickness of this job - you know what you’ve done is soon forgotten and what is important is what happens tomorrow.

'You spend your life worrying about the future, always expecting the next game, the next
game and the next game. It becomes something almost perverse. It takes over your brain completely and you never take time to look back.’

When the Wenger reign began, today’s opponents, had just been relegated to the bottom tier of English football and their situation would get far worse before it started to get better.

‘I take my hat off to Hull,’ said Wenger. ‘What they have done is fantastic.’

Over but not out: Gael Clichy comes out worst after a tackle by Bolton's Kevin Davies but is fit to face Hull

Arsenal defender Gael Clichy is fit to play against the Tigers but still angry that Kevin Davies escaped a red card for a tackle on him at Bolton last weekend.

He is equally unhappy with ex-players like Mark Lawrenson and Alan Shearer for claiming it was ‘hard but fair’.

‘I've seen it again many times and the only thing I can say is that it was a stupid  challenge,’ said Clichy.

Eduardo’s broken leg at Birmingham still haunts Arsenal’s players and Clichy added: 'I couldn’t move, the doctor could not touch it and we have lost a player like this so that’s on your mind.

‘He got the ball of course but to allow a player like this to carry on playing is really difficult.

'I have been really lucky on this challenge. I’m lucky to be here and to be playing on Saturday.’