Hoyte - I am ready for greater responsibility



Gavin Hoyte is taking on more responsibility this season - in more ways than one.

The 18-year-old defender enjoyed a profitable summer at the first team's training camp in Austria before two notable departures transformed his role at Arsenal. Gavin is now flying the flag for the Hoyte family following Justin's move to Middlesbrough, while Havard Nordtveit's loan switch to Salamanca saw the centre back appointed as Reserve team captain for the new campaign.

Gavin led Neil Banfield's side out for last week's Reserve League curtain-raiser against Chelsea and, although Arsenal lost a compelling derby 3-2, their new skipper emerged with credit. He even held his own in a tough encounter with Didier Drogba as the Ivory Coast striker eased himself back from injury.

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"It's a great honour to be captain and lead the team. It's a brilliant feeling," Hoyte told Arsenal.com. "I found out at the last pre-season game we played, against Worthing. Neil Banfield announced that I was captain and I was over the moon about it.

"I need to drive everyone on and I tried to do that against Chelsea. We lost concentration at times and let their runners go but we also played some great football."

Hoyte's face broke into a smile when the topic of Drogba cropped up. Arsenal's youngsters are used to physical battles in the Reserve League - but they don't come much tougher than the Chelsea striker.

"You have to be excited to play against someone like him," said Hoyte. "He's a great player and he has played in a lot of big games. He gave us a good test.

"He is a strong player so you have to change your game. You can't get in a physical battle with him because he will just knock you off the ball easily. So you have to be intelligent at the back and work your way around that. He is brilliant in the air so you have to work off his touch and work around him."

Gavin has been at Arsenal since he was nine and, since day one, his big brother Justin has been there with him. The siblings even shared the same pitch in pre-season as defensive partners so it's no surprise that Justin's departure will take some getting used to. However, Gavin is focused on his own future.

"When Justin went it was a little bit strange at first [not to see him at the training ground] and it still is really," he said. "I gave him a bit of stick when he scored an own goal on his Middlesbrough debut but they won so that was the main thing!

"It was great for me to be with the first-team players at the training camp and work with the manager as well, it helped me as a player. The first-team players worked with me a lot and talked to me, it was good experience.

"William Gallas and Kolo Toure told me that the biggest thing for me is talking on the pitch, and being confident on the ball, keep playing your game. So that's what I need to do. Keep playing my football, keep playing in the Reserves and hopefully get to play in the Carling Cup team."