Tony Mowbray believes his players will ‘feel the quality’ of their Premier League opposition tonight but wants Rovers to pose Liverpool problems of their own.

Jurgen Klopp’s side, who head off on a US tour tomorrow, will provide the step-up in intensity that Mowbray wants in his side’s third pre-season outing.

Rovers have a 2-0 win at Hibernian and 1-1 draw at Port Vale under their belt so far, but return to their headquarters for one of two standout friendlies.

The Champions League finalists are at Ewood tonight, a week before Merseyside rivals Everton visit East Lancashire, with games against Lincoln (Sunday) and Accrington Stanley (July 28) rounding off Rovers’ six friendlies.

Klopp will bring a team packed with internationals, even without star names Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Xherdan Shaqiri.

And Mowbray said: “It’s a game we’re really looking forward to.

“I was telling the players that it will be a proper Liverpool team. They mixed their team around when they played Chester and Tranmere but I’m pretty sure it will be a real good test for us.

“I like the players to feel the quality of Premier League footballers so ultimately we’re working on a style of how we might play in the Championship but tonight we might have to put our best laid plans on the back burner a bit.

“When you play against high quality players you feel that on the pitch, their strength, their ability to pick the right pass, and we have to be respectful to make sure we make it a really competitive game for them.

“Some games last year we were gung-ho, but you can’t do that against top teams otherwise you will leave yourselves exposed so tactically it’s a good games for us.

“We’ll be out of possession for a lot of the game, their quality will dominate the match but it’s whether our shape can give them problems and we can throw a few punches and put them on the back foot for spells and threaten for goals.

“That’s what we have to try and do, be organised, work hard and show them they’re in a football match and threaten their goal at times.”

Striker Danny Graham is likely to miss out again through injury, though goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler could return.

Lewis Travis is the only member of the squad to play more than an hour so far after he completed 90 minutes at Vale Park last weekend.

Mowbray is likely to hand extended minutes to more of his senior names and resist making wholesale changes at half-time with the new season just over two weeks away.

The boss added: “Fitness is getting there and we’re trying to bring the distances down now and add a little bit more intensity. We have a few niggles but nothing serious so we’re doing okay.

“I’d have to say pre-season games - whilst I want the team to play well and get fit - nobody remembers the pre-season scores when we’re a couple of months into the season.”