”UNPLEASANT” HUGE BLOW:  Fantastic shot-stopper suffered an injury and had to leave the game against Manchester United.

Dean Henderson’s Crystal Palace debut this evening was cut short after just 20 minutes due to an injury.
The fact that the incident involved Manchester United, the team Henderson left during the summer, made it all the more sad for Henderson.

This season, the custodian made it clear that he would not accept playing second fiddle and that he wished to leave Old Trafford in order to play regular first-team games.

Henderson had not played a single minute for United in August or during the preseason, and he had been benched in each of his first three games with Palace.

But when given the chance at Old Trafford, of all places, Henderson saw virtually little ball before being replaced by Sam Johnstone.

Johnstone has been Roy Hodgson‘s preferred choice in the Palace goal even since Henderson joined for £15m late in the summer window.

The 26-year-old appeared to tweak something when clearing the ball, and the decision was eventually made, after some lengthy discussion, to take Henderson off.

Henderson’s loan spell at Nottingham Forest was cut short last season due to injury too, as he played no part from mid-January onwards.

Fears over his injury record left Forest reluctant to meet Man United’s demands, and a deal never materialised.

Instead, Forest opted to sign Matt Turner from Arsenal and Odysseas Vlachodimos from Benfica.

There is now no estimate of how long Henderson would be absent, which will hand his prospects of rejoining the England lineup before the European Championships next summer another significant hit.

Instead, Johnstone, a direct rival at Palace, is presently Gareth Southgate’s third choice in the England team, trailing only Aaron Ramsdale and Jordan Pickford.

 

Johnstone will start when Palace plays United in the league on Saturday, after coming on and giving up three in a dismal 3-0 loss at Old Trafford.

From the team that drew with Fulham over the weekend in the Premier League, Hodgson made seven changes.

However, it seems unlikely that Hodgson will continue to use many of the unproven players who were given opportunities last evening after a severe loss.