CHARLIE Mulgrew insists Rovers boss Tony Mowbray won't have to gee his players up for tomorrow's home clash with Aston Villa as they all realise the importance of the fixture.

Defeat for Blackburn won't necessarily doom them to League One, with results at Birmingham and QPR crucial to taking their survival mission into the final game of the season.

But most Rovers fans will accept that anything other than three points against Steve Bruce's men will leave them on the brink of relegation.

And Mulgrew claims the players are fully aware of what's at stake in front of a bumper crowd at Ewood Park, with more than 20,000 expected including 6,500 from the Midlands.

"These next two games are massive," he said. "Everybody at the club knows how big they are.

"There’s a feeling about the place, a big-game type of feeling coming this weekend. We’re all prepared for it and ready to go.

"The lads are all up for it. The manager will have a game plan and we’ll all need to stick to that.

"The manager doesn’t need to say much, we know how big the games are and we’ll be ready to go on Saturday."

Mulgrew is set to play his part in defence for Mowbray after returning earlier than expected from his latest injury.

The Scotland international was stretchered off at Reading on April 4 with ankle ligament damage and looked set to miss the rest of the campaign, as well as an World Cup qualifier against England in June.

But he made a remarkable recovery in just two weeks and was back on the field last weekend against his former club Wolves.

For Mulgrew it's a relief to be able to play his role in trying to help Rovers maintain their Championship status.

And he's delighted to see a number of his teammates, including striker Danny Graham and goalkeeper Jason Steele, also returning to fitness for the final two games.

"It’s never good when you’re on the sidelines watching and thankfully it was only a couple of games," he said.

"But you still want to be in there trying to help the cause and I’m glad I’m back now trying to help out.

"Everybody’s fighting fit, everybody’s wanting back in and it just shows the team spirit we have here and we need to go and show that against Villa."

While Mulgrew accepts it's the stage of the season when plenty of cliches are trotted out, he says many of the familiar mantras hold true.

He added: "We take each game as it comes.

"When the Villa game comes we’ll look to win that match, then we’ll go again.

"Anything can happen, we know that, but we also have to do our part and we know what we have to do, so we’re looking to win the game at the weekend.

"Of course, the fans will play an important role in that.

"They have been great this season and if they can turn out in the numbers and give us a good cheer then I’m sure that will help us along the way."