Uncapped Henderson steps in for Heaton

Sheffield United goalkeeper Dean Henderson has stepped up to replace the injured Tom Heaton in the England squad for the second month running.

Heaton will not be joining up with Gareth Southgate’s 26-man party after sustaining a calf injury in training for Aston Villa, ruling him out of the Midlands derby with Wolves yesterday.

The £8million signing from Burnley will miss the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo and has suffered further frustration in his bid to cement a place in Southgate’s squad. Heaton was forced to pull out of the squad for last month’s games against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria with injury.

Villa’s Jed Steer took Heaton’s place for the game at Molineux, making just his second appearance in the Premier League, but was replaced himself after eight minutes following an Achilles injury.

Dean Smith, Villa head coach, said: “Tom’s been struggling so I knew he was going to pull out of the Wolves game. He’ll stay with us now. What the international period will do is enable him to be fit for the Newcastle game [on Nov 25].”

Henderson, on loan from Manchester United, will join up with the England squad at St George’s Park today. The 22-year-old is uncapped for the seniors but has 11 caps for England Under-21s.

Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley is also injured, but will not be replaced in the squad.

England face Montenegro at Wembley on Thursday in the senior men’s 1,000th international before travelling to Kosovo to play on Sunday.

Southgate requires just one point to secure qualification to Euro 2020.