Preston North End illness and injury news for Middlesbrough as Paul Heckingbottom shares encouraging update

Preston North End midfielder Stefan Thordarson was absent on Thursday due to illness - but boss Paul Heckingbottom still expects him to feature on Saturday.

The Lilywhites head to Middlesbrough, for their first match after the international break. Thordarson went away with Iceland and started both games, against Montenegro and Turkey. He returned in fine condition, but headed home on Thursday, unwell.

There’s little concern on Heckingbottom’s part, though, even with the trip to the Riverside imminent. As for the rest of the squad, and internationals, it’s looking good for North End too. Ali McCann, Milutin Osmajic and Robbie Brady all went away with their countries over the break.

“It’s nice to get everyone back,” said Heckingbottom. “Stef has been off ill today, but he’ll be fine. He was in yesterday. He has seen the doctor and he’s fine. It’s just about keeping him away from the players today. Milly has trained today. Robbie has had another easier day, today, so everyone should be fit and available.

“Robbie, with the England game, is one I’d always watch. There are that many and they play at similar times, you can’t really watch them all. Milly played against Stef, obviously, and Macca watched that one. And then Macca watched Stef’s second one as well. The only thing is I would’ve liked Ali to get more minutes, having gone away.

“I thought, when he came back, his rehab was good before we came in. We managed to get him training with us and some minutes, in the final two games. I would’ve liked him to maybe have started one of those two games. That would’ve been an ideal international break for us then, but that’s the frustration when they’re away - they are out of your control. Main thing... come back fit.”

Layton Stewart was a notable absence from Tuesday’s Central League Cup encounter against Stoke City, at Euxton. The front man, signed last summer, had a frustrating pre-season through injury. He is now pushing to get back in the first team fold, but wasn’t quite ready to play in that reserve game.

“Yeah, he’d just come back,” said Heckingbottom. “He had a couple of days out, so we didn’t use him - which is a shame, because I would’ve loved to. Certainly, the players who are not featuring and getting regular minutes, we will use games like that as part of their week.

“One thing is for sure - we want to make sure they are all getting the same sort of programme and physically, they are in a good place. Then, when the opportunity comes to play, they need to be able to contribute and stay in the team.”