ROY Keane last night criticised Stuart Pearce's decision not to call up Grant Leadbitter for England Under-21s' forthcoming European Championships qualifiers against Montenegro and Republic of Ireland.

While Wolves winger Michael Kightly and Southampton midfielder Andrew Surman were included in Pearce's travelling party despite a complete lack of Premier League experience, Leadbitter was overlooked for the second time in a month.

The 20-year-old is in the form of his life, having scored two goals in his last two Premier League games, and Keane cannot understand why he is consistently ignored when it comes to international honours.

"Grant didn't make the England Under-21 squad even though he's playing regularly in the Premier League," said the Sunderland boss.

"Some players have been selected even though they aren't even playing in the Championship. I'm surprised, but let's not go there."

Leadbitter has started the Black Cats' last four matches after successfully recovering from a hamstring injury sustained in pre-season, and the youngster is a certain starter tomorrow as Sunderland look to wreck Arsenal's 100 per cent record at the Emirates Stadium.

Expected to struggle following the summer departure of Thierry Henry, Arsene Wenger's side have instead won six of their opening seven league games to move two points clear at the top of the table.

And while Keane does not expect his former employers, Manchester United, to surrender their Premier League crown without a fight, he is equally convinced that Arsenal will mount a credible title challenge this season.

"If you were a punter and you wanted to watch a team, I would suggest that Arsenal and United are the teams you would go and watch," said the Irishman.

"Arsenal were criticised a little bit last season, but you would still pay to watch them.

"They're scoring more goals this year and taking a lot more chances, and sometimes you have to give these teams a chance to develop.

"The younger players' decision making has improved. They're certainly taking their chances and they've matured quickly over the last few years. At the moment, they definitely look like they'll be in with a shout of the title."

Cesc Fabregas has been at the heart of Arsenal's resurgence, with Keane hailing the Spaniard as one of the foremost midfielders in English football.

"He's got a chance, hasn't he," he joked. "He's probably a different type of player to me - not as cultured!

"He's a good player and he's still maturing.

"He seems to have settled down this season and he's added goals to his locker.

"I think any top midfielder has to have goals in him. He's already scored more than he did last season, but that comes from the whole team maturing together."

Sunderland's team has not been maturing as quickly as Keane would like, although there were obvious signs of promise when they held out for more than 70 minutes at Old Trafford last month.

Tomorrow's game is likely to see a repeat of the 4-5-1 formation Keane adopted against Manchester United, but the Black Cats boss has demanded his players ask more questions of Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia than they posed to Edwin van der Sar.

"Hopefully, we can learn a little bit from the United game," he said.

"We did OK for long periods of that game, even though we ended up with no points.

"We showed we are confident enough in that kind of environment, although I'd like to see us get forward a bit more (tomorrrow) and create two or three chances.

"We might be something like 20-1 but, in a two-horse race, you have to believe.

"Arsenal might get stuck on the tube!

"Seriously, though, we all have dreams of where we want to get to.

"How you get there is another thing entirely, but you have to believe you can get there."