Chris Hughton has backed Anthony Pilkington to emerge stronger from his latest injury setback.

Pilkington is out until the new year after suffering a grade two hamstring strain in last weekend's Premier League defeat at Newcastle, following on from a knee problem during the club's summer USA tour which ruled him out of the start of the new league campaign.

Pilkington's international career with the Republic of Ireland has also been severely disrupted by a series of injuries in recent times but Hughton is convinced the wide player is mentally tough enough to cope.

'It has been difficult for him because as soon as he has managed to get into a rhythm and a few games he has found himself picking up another injury,' said Hughton. 'It has been difficult for him but that is the game, perhaps for some more so than others who manage to go through their careers relatively injury-free. He has to continue to fight his way through it.

'We work very, very hard here as a medical and sports science unit and any injuries we have we assess to see if we could manage it better, have we done that right and so on. We are always very confident that all the injuries we have we have done everything we can.

'Injuries are part of the game. You look at Alex (Tettey) who got a kick in the final seconds against Cardiff. Elliott Bennett didn't even feel his knee during the Everton game and then had some swelling the next day. Sometimes you just can't control these things, but on the muscular injuries we do a lot of prevention work here. The reality is you can't solve everything.'