Henderson keeping up appearances as De Gea spends time with baby

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had no hesitation in allowing Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea to return to Spain for the birth of his first child as Dean Henderson prepares to line up against Manchester City.

The long-serving number one was conspicuous by his absence from Wednesday’s goalless league draw at Crystal Palace due to “personal reasons”.

De Gea has since confirmed that his partner gave birth on Thursday, with the club giving their first-choice keeper permission to return to his homeland despite the potential coronavirus-related quarantine headaches.

Solskjaer expects him to be back soon but could not give a timeframe as Henderson prepares to line up in tomorrow’s trip to runaway Premier League leaders City.

“It’s a fantastic day for David,” the United boss said. “Of course when you become a dad that’s probably the best possible feeling you can have.”

He added: “I’ll give him the time he needs before he comes back. He has to go home and in the old world that’s a day, you come back and you’re ready again.

“Now with the pandemic and quarantines of course it’s a different world, but still we felt when David wanted to go and be there to support his girlfriend of course there’s not even a decision to make.”

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has a fullyfit squad available for the first time this season

Defender Nathan Ake returns after a muscular problem.

Quadruple-chasing City as are looking to extend their 14-point advantage over second-placed United at the Etihad.

City boss Guardiola said: “Good news for us, Nathan is back. He made part of the training session and felt really good.

“Everyone is fully fit and that is important for the next few weeks ahead of the international break, and hopefully the people will come back well after that.”

At his pre-match press conference, Guardiola said: “This game is important – like the previous one, the previous one and the next one will be.

“Focus on one at a time, not on how many points we have, but I know how difficult United are.

“We have experienced that in the last years and I have the feeling that every year they are a better team than the previous season.

“They are a team with quality and for more than one year they have not lost away, and they have good results at the Etihad Stadium.

“But at the same time we know the opportunity we have to increase the distance. We spoke in training about what we have to do to beat them on the pitch and the way we want to play.”

Dean Henderson will line up against Manchester City.