Hoyte in a hurry to impress after switch to football fast-track

Young Arsenal full-back groomed by athletics family is inspired by Micah's England call

Imagine sports day at the Emirates Stadium, and prior to the 100 metres final - with or without a football - Thierry Henry and Theo Walcott are attracting all the attention. But insiders who understand pedigree as well as form would be quietly betting on another young Englishman, the least well-known player to have appeared in seven of Arsenal's 10 Premiership matches this season.

For if modern footballers have to be athletes, then who could have had a better start in life than Justin Hoyte, son of two international sprinters? Or indeed his younger brother Gavin, currently on the club's books as a scholar?

Wendy Hoyte represented Great Britain at the Olympics of 1976 and 1980, the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships, indoor and out. Husband Les also ran for his country, so it was hardly surprising that their boys turned out to be a bit quick.

Les, who now works as a sprinting coach at Arsenal's Academy, recalls that Justin's only problem was managing to find enough time for athletics training in between his football. Despite that, he reached the 100 metres final of the English schools championship and recorded a personal best of 11.01 seconds.

By that time, however, football was exerting the stronger pull for Justin, as it had done since he began training with Arsenal, the club he supported, at the age of 10. "I just did athletics in my spare time really, when the [football] season had finished. It would give me something to do and keep me ticking over.

"Football is the one thing I've really always wanted to do and if I give that everything I've got then hopefully it'll pay off. I started off as a striker and I've worked my way back really. I was playing centre-back now and then and probably only started at full-back around Under-17 level. Of the two, I prefer right-back because I can attack more. As I used to be a striker I like going forward."

Early appearances in the first team tended to be divided between right-back and centre-half, the earliest of them being as a substitute in the bizarre FA Cup final rehearsal of 2003 against Southampton, when Arsenal led 5-1 at half-time after a 10-minute hat-trick by Jermaine Pennant and won 6-1.

"I'd played a reserve game the night before and Pat Rice [Arsène Wenger's assistant] told me I'd be involved the next day, so I was quite nervous as well as excited. It was just a fantastic day, with my brother and my dad there and walking round the pitch at the end as it was the last home game of the season. My dad was so excited he lost his watch jumping up and down."

A loan to gain further experience was always on the cards and the bonus was that the opportunity came up last season at a Premiership club. There was plenty of practice for defenders, too, as Sunderland set a record for the lowest points total in modern history.

"It was a good chance to play first-team football and show what I could do. When you play so many games you learn about positioning and how to play against certain opponents. It was a difficult season for the team but I enjoyed the experience. And going up north after being in London all my life helped me grow up too, doing things like cooking and cleaning. My cooking's improved a lot, though I'm not top chef yet."

His defending improved sufficiently as well to earn a regular first-team place when Arsenal found themselves short of full-backs at the start of this season. The immediate vacancy was on the left, where Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor gave him a difficult first game on the wider Emirates Stadium pitch, but he has settled down and looked happier when switched to the other side. Now comes a new challenge with Emmanuel Eboué having returned for the Carling Cup tie in midweek and contesting the position for today's home game with Liverpool.

"There's tough competition for places, which helps the team," Hoyte says. "Left-back isn't my natural position and sometimes you could see that and I was making a few mistakes. But I feel the last few games I've played really well and the more I've played the more confident I'm getting. Plus the experience of people around you like William Gallas and Kolo Touré really helps."

At West Ham's Upton Park last Sunday, he was aware of nothing more than "a standard local derby with a good atmosphere", and was able to claim in best Wenger style that he did not see anything out of the ordinary going on in the technical area. But the mood in the dressing-room afterwards was understandably low and a third home victory of the season is badly required today so as not to lose more ground.

Tomorrow Hoyte, 22 next week, will head to Holland with the England Under-21 squad [they play at Alkmaar on Tuesday], the promotion of Manchester City's right-back Micah Richards into the senior squad only fuelling his own ambition. "At the start of the season I was just hoping to play as many first-team games as possible, build on my experience at Sunderland and bring that into my game. The big goal for me is to keep working hard and if things go well, win things with the club, play with the Under-21s at the European finals next summer and try to break into the England senior team." Take your marks.