Stoke City travel to second bottom Barnsley on Saturday looking to record a much-needed victory to lift themselves off the bottom of the Championship table, and close the gap to the teams directly above them as Rory Delap aims to stabilise the Potters following Nathan Jones’ departure.

The Potters suffered a third successive defeat without scoring, losing 2-0 against West Bromwich Albion at the Bet365 Stadium on Monday night, which was their 11th defeat in 15 Championship matches leaving them bottom of the table and one point behind Saturday’s opponents Barnsley in the Championship table.

Stoke have secured just one away win so far this campaign, winning 2-1 at Swansea City a few weeks ago, and the Potters will need to show signs of improving their form away from home if they are to have a chance of staging a revival under a new manager over the next few weeks and months.

Barnsley themselves are in poor form, having gone 14 Championship matches without a win since an opening day victory against Fulham, which has seen the Tykes also change managers with Daniel Stendel departing, although the Yorkshire club did secure a vital point from 2-0 down, with a last minute equaliser from Cauley Woodrow against Bristol City last time out.

Here, we take a look at the XI that we think Delap should consider starting for Stoke in their trip to Barnsley on Saturday…

Having elected to deploy a 5-3-2 formation for Stoke’s 2-0 defeat against West Brom on Monday night, Delap should probably chose to alter his side’s formation to more of a 4-4-2 for the vital trip to Barnsley, in a match that will see the Potters need to play much more on the front foot than they were able to against the Baggies.

Jack Butland is likely to retain his place in the side, having made a return to the side in place of Adam Federici for his first start in five matches, having been dropped following Stoke’s 3-2 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest, and although he conceded twice against West Brom the Englishman was not at fault for either goal, showing signs of an upturn in his personal form from earlier in the campaign.

Both Tommy Smith and Stephen Ward were brought in for rare starts by Delap against West Brom starting as wing-backs down either side of the pitch, and the pair could retain their places again for the trip to Barnsley with both having the ability to provide support to the Potters’ attack on the overlap.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, Danny Batth and Liam Lindsay all started in the back three against West Brom, but having conceded two goals in that game, Delap could well face the decision of having to drop one of those three for the trip to Barnsley, and Carter-Vickers and Batth appear to be the most obvious chance to start alongside each other in the centre of defence.

The Potters should start both Badou Ndiaye and Joe Allen in the centre of midfield, with Sam Clucas moving out to the left-hand side to help provide greater width for the Potters, while Tom Ince could come back in on the right-hand side to provide more of an attacking presence down the right of Stoke’s attack against Barnsley.

Stoke started both Sam Vokes and Tyrese Campbell together up front against West Brom, with Lee Gregory missing out through injury, but the former Millwall striker could be fit to make a return against Barnsley – and if he does return he will likely be recalled to the starting line-up and having formed a partnership with Campbell in the last month or so Delap should probably pair the two together on Saturday.

Whatever starting eleven Delap elects to pick, Stoke will need to ensure they pick up a much-needed result, with another defeat putting them even further adrift at the bottom of the table and making life even more challenging for their next permanent manager