AS Justin Hoyte prepares to help England Under-21s take a huge step towards the European Championships tonight, the enterprising full-back has revealed a determination to return to Arsenal when his loan spell with Sunderland ends.

Hoyte has been one of the Black Cats' star performers since arriving on a season's loan in August and he has been rewarded with a fresh call-up to the Under-21s.

But the 20-year-old, despite enjoying club life regardless of Sunderland's perilous league position at the foot of the Premiership, admits he dreams of returning to north London next summer.

Arsenal will be moving to a new stadium for the 2006-07 campaign and Hoyte harbours hopes of returning to his first club and proving he is more than capable of holding down a place in Arsene Wenger's team.

But, even if his wish is granted come May, the young defender will look back on his time at Sunderland with great affection - and he would love to ensure top-flight survival in the meantime.

"It was a forward step for me to take at the time and I still regard it as a forward step now," said Hoyte, who made 12 appearances for Arsenal last season and played in the Champions League.

"I want to play as many games as I possibly can for Sunderland to get the experience of regular Premiership football behind me.

Sunderland have given me the opportunity to play regularly but I look forward to going back to Arsenal a better player.

"My main goal is to make it with Arsenal. I'm enjoying it at Sunderland and I will play out the rest of the season and see what happens from there."

Hoyte has been playing left-back in the absence of George McCartney and has looked at home in an unfamiliar position in the Premiership.

While the whole country seem to be writing off Sunderland's chances of survival, Hoyte is more confident and suggests things are not as bad as they seem.

Sunderland have lost their last four matches but the Hendon-born defender claims that only the embarrassing Portsmouth defeat suggested relegation was on the cards.

Mick McCarthy's men now have three home games against Aston Villa, Birmingham and Liverpool and Hoyte hopes that run of fixtures will be just the start of a turnaround in fortunes.

"The Under-21s is a nice break from the Premiership," he said. "But I'm also looking forward to going back to Sunderland because we are all determined to get the results we need.

"The Portsmouth defeat was completely unexpected.

"Everyone knows we played badly but we have to take confidence from the fact that we never played like that before.

"We now have three games at home coming up and I don't think there will be a nervousness about our play.

"Everyone will be looking forward to them and determined to put the wrong things right."

Hoyte is hoping to start for the Under-21s against France tonight at White Hart Lane in the first leg of a play-off tussle for a place in the European Championships.

His call-up for the squad comes after a nine-month absence and he feels it justifies his decision to move to Wearside temporarily.

Arsenal boss Wenger spoke highly of him on Monday when he suggested Hoyte could eventually succeed Gary Neville as right-back for the full England team.

And Hoyte said: "It's good to be back involved again. I did not know until last week and it's a real bonus to know that I've been noticed again.

"It was good to hear someone like Arsene Wenger say nice things about me. He is a great manager and someone well respected in the game.

"It's certainly a goal of mine to play for the full international team.

"That's a goal for every young footballer and I'm no different."

Hoyte could come up against fellow Sunderland loan man Anthony Le Tallec tonight - and he knows Le Tallec scored a hat-trick in his last outing for the Under-21s.

England will have to do without injured Newcastle defender Steven Taylor, but Hoyte said: "I have not spoken to Anthony about the match yet but I'm sure I will see him before the game.

"I know that he scored three in his last game for France but I'm sure we will have the defence capable of snuffing out his threat. The loss of Steven is a blow to us but I'm sure that whoever fills in will do a job on the strikers.

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