New dad Ruben Palazuelos would like nothing better than to celebrate the birth of his daughter with three points this weekend.

The Spaniard flew back into Edinburgh this morning after attending the birth of Daniela in Santander and immediately set his sights on Saturday's clash with Dundee United in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The midfielder, who has missed his side's last league fixture at Hamilton, hasn't trained since heading back home but insisted he'll be ready if his manager wants him for the meeting with Craig Levein's side.

Speaking to the media at Riccarton shortly after meeting up again with the first-team squad on his return, Ruben said: "I am very happy, my baby is here now and hopefully I will play better!

"I hope we can win against Dundee United as we need the three points. I want to play but it is the decision of the manager.

"I haven't trained for the past week but we'll see after tomorrow. For me it is indifferent if I play or not - the important thing is the three points."

Victory over the Tannadice outfit would help make up for last weekend's defeat against Accies which left the Jambos rooted in the bottom half of the table.

The Spanish playmaker, though, is refusing to press the panic button, adding: "I believe in the team , we have a good team, as we saw last season but I'm not scared about the situation.

"We have 24 games left I think. It is a lot and I hope we can move up our position."

The controversial clash at New Douglas Park has been a hot topic this week and Ruben is still trying to catch up with events.

"I only arrived back from Spain this morning and haven't had time to talk to the players so can't speak about what happened," he said. "I was getting texts from friends during the game and it seemed crazy with everything happening.

"Four red cards is a lot and it is disappointing as we are missing some important players on Saturday now.

"I don't have a problem with the referees. The important thing for me is to win the game. Our job is to go out and play football and not think about the referee."

On Hearts.TV today, the pre-match Press conference with Csaba Laszlo and Ruben Palazuelos at Riccarton.