ROVERS skipper Charlie Mulgrew is hoping to feature against Preston North End this weekend.

The centre back was forced to pull out of the Scotland squad for their Nations League double-header this week having picked up a worrying rib and liver injury in the 1-1 draw at West Brom.

That saw the 32-year-old miss games against QPR and Rotherham and he has continued to recover his fitness during the international break.

"It's quite a dangerous thing that's happened - it's a cut in my liver - so it's not worth taking any chances because the consequences are too high," said the skipper.

"So the break has come at a good time, because it gives it time to heal and hopefully I can be back for the next game."

On the injury Mulgrew, who extended his stay at Ewood until 2021 last week, added: "It's been very frustrating because I feel great. Even the ribs that are supposedly fractured don't feel like fractured ribs. They feel fine.

"I had a bit of a stitch when I was running for a few days, but it's been fine.

"The liver problem is just a bit of a spanner in the works because it's obviously an organ and it needs to be taken seriously.

"It feels great, I'm doing all the running, I just can't do contact in case I get another hit on it, so hopefully I get the go-ahead from the specialist to train this week.

"When it happened, I knew it was serious, because I couldn't breathe for five minutes.

"So I knew it was bad at the time and I thought it was maybe broken ribs, but I've never heard anybody hurting their liver before, so I never knew that was even possible.

"Thankfully it wasn't too serious - well, it could have been worse - but thankfully I've been able to run and keep going and I'm not too far away now."

And Mulgrew is hoping to be passed fit for the Lancashire derby at Deepdale on Saturday having capitalised on the break from action.

"It's come at a good time, but at the same time I want to be with Scotland," said Mulgrew, who has 39 caps for his country, of the international break.

"I want to be playing there as well. I don't like missing games.

"But the most important thing is Blackburn Rovers and being ready for my club here, because they look after me and give me the treatment, so I need to listen to the advice from them."