Arsenal fullback Justin Hoyte has welcomed reserves teammate Matthew Connolly to his first call-up to the England U21 squad.

"I think it is great for him [Connolly] to have been called up," Hoyte told Arsenal.com. "He has trained with the first-team before and he is a great talent. I really want him to do well and maybe get a game.

"I think that the rest of the lads there now will do very, very well. They are doing it at the moment and still haven't lost under Stuart Pearce. He is a fantastic manager and under him I think that they will have a great chance in 2009.

"Theo is playing well and a lot of the boys in the team play regularly for their clubs - players like Mark Noble and Steven Taylor. They were with us at Euro 2007, so with all that experience hopefully it can take them through."