Kenny McLean intends to be available for Norwich City's game at Preston on Friday, whether he plays for Scotland on Wednesday evening or not.

The midfielder is one of eight Canaries players potentially in international action less than 48 hours before the return to Championship action at Deepdale, at 3pm on Good Friday.

For McLean and City skipper Grant Hanley that could mean World Cup qualification action against the Faroe Islands - but with promotion to the Premier League on the line, McLean is ready to go the extra mile.

“Nobody will go into the manager and say they don’t want to play, that is a fact," said the Scot. "Everybody wants to play as much as possible and I’m no different.

“If I come back fit and healthy from Scotland, I’ll be ready, if selected. If not, I’ll be there for the boys.”

Hanley has so far played all of a 2-2 home draw with Austria on Thursday and a 1-1 draw in Israel on Sunday, with McLean only making a late cameo in the first game.

“We’ve got a few on the Wednesday night, so hopefully everybody can recover as quickly as possible," McLean continued.

“We’ve got plenty of players who can come in and do a job if needs be, the manager will pick a team that’s strongest to go and get a result at Preston.

“We’ll see when that comes. We’ll be ready for Preston when it comes – we won’t have any excuses.”

The close scheduling comes during an unprecedented campaign, which began in September due to the impact of last season being suspended for three months following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most clubs have had plenty of injuries and coronavirus outbreaks to deal with, and City are no different. That hasn't stopped Daniel Farke's squad from pushing hard for an immediate return to the Premier League though, sitting 14 points clear of third-placed Swansea with eight games remaining.

“I think everyone can see that it isn’t ideal but that’s the schedule, there’s nothing we can do about it," added McLean, who scored his fourth goal of the season during the 1-1 home draw with Blackburn before joining up with Scotland.

“We have a game for our country on the Wednesday. If selected, I’ll play. Then we’ve got a game for our club on the Friday. If selected, I’ll play.

“That’s all I can really say on it. It’s not ideal, playing a couple of games within a couple of days, but we love this game and we want to play as much as we can.

“The manager will pick a team that’s ready to go, the freshest team, the best team to get a result against Preston.”