Norwich City boss Chris Hughton has revealed injured midfielder Leroy Fer will miss a 'number of weeks' with his hamstring problem but Hughton is adamant the Dutch international's Premier League season is not over.

Fer suffered the injury in the build up to the recent Premier League 4-1 defeat at Aston Villa and Hughton confirmed at Colney on Thursday lunchtime Fer will not be involved against Stoke this weekend.

Robert Snodgrass (wrist) and Ricky van Wolfswinkel (knee) are poised to train later on Thursday and will come into contention for the Potters' test if they suffer no adverse reaction over the next two days. Joseph Yobo and Martin Olsson are also in the squad despite missing out on international friendlies for Nigeria and Sweden respectively and Hughton confirmed none of his other international contingent have picked up injuries from their midweek action.

Hughton admits losing Fer for some crucial battles ahead is a big blow but the midfielder is expected to return to bolster the club's survival push.

'It is a hamstring strain. Sometimes you are a little bit reluctant to put a timescale on it, but he will be out for a period of weeks,' said Hughton. How long he will be out for, we will just keep assessing it, but we do not fear it is for the season. Ricky and Robert will train on Thursday and we are confident they will be available. With Joseph we are confident he will be okay, he has just had to play with a slight strain but it is not a major worry and the same with Martin. Both ourselves and Sweden have known he would have to have an operation on his shoulder but he is able to play through that.'

Central defender Michael Turner and Jonas Gutierrez will miss out against Stoke but the duo are expected to re-join training next week.

'Michael's been out for a longer period of time, so it will be really good to see him back in the group again,' said Hughton. 'It's been frustrating for Jonas – he came here on loan and played in a couple of games, but since then it's been as frustrating for him as it is has been for us. It will be good to get them back because we're getting into that important part of the season.'

Hughton expects the right reaction this weekend after shipping four goals in 16 minutes at Villa Park.

'We have been in a series of games where confidence had been high, so it does take a bit of a knock, but generally this season when we have had to get a response from the players, it has been good,' he said. 'Everybody would have been hurting after that, especially the players, and so the best opportunity they have is the next one. It has been a difficult week with eight players away on international duty, but that is the same for everybody else. We have to expect a reaction, and so far this season when we have needed one, we have usually got one.'