Stoke City have endured a poor start to the season, with the Potters' 1-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday leaving them in 23rd place in the Championship after 13 matches.

Nathan Jones' side had failed to win any of their opening ten league matches, which had led to mounting pressure on the former Luton Town manager's job at the Bet365 Stadium, but the Potters did manage to win back to back games ahead of Tuesday's trip to Hillsborough.

A key reason for that upturn in form was an improvement in the Potters' defence, with Jones' side conceding just once in those two matches and recording a rare clean sheet in the 2-0 at home to Fulham last weekend, which suggests that Jones is starting to tighten up his side's back line.

Stoke had conceded 21 goals in their opening ten Championship matches, but despite conceding at Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, they have now conceded just twice in three Championship games - and that will give the Potters some confidence that they can start to pick up points in tight matches.

Jones had managed to get a reasonably settled defence together in the last three matches, which has proved challenging so far this campaign, with Stoke constantly changing personnel and the shape in their defence, with Tom Edwards, Danny Batth and Cameron Carter-Vickers all starting the last three games.

However, against Sheffield Wednesday Carter-Vickers and Edwards were both forced off, with injuries meaning that Jones might be forced to alter his defence again for Stoke's trip to Millwall on Saturday.

That could give defender Tommy Smith an opportunity to come into the side and start showing his best form for the Potters, with the right-back, who arrived from Huddersfield Town for £4million in the summer, having struggled to establish himself in Stoke's side since his move - and having been at fault for a couple of goals when he has played.

Smith has so far been limited to just four appearances for Stoke in the Championship, and the 27-year-old would have been expecting to have had much more of an impact at the Bet365 Stadium when he arrived in the summer, but having started the Potters' first three Championship games he has only featured once in the last ten matches.

The defender's cause has not been helped by the fact that Stoke conceded seven goals in the four matches Smith has started so far this campaign, and also by Jones opting to switch to a three-man defence for a few matches in the last few weeks, but if Edwards is unable to feature against Millwall on Saturday then Smith could get his chance to come back into the side.

Smith has already proven he has the ability to be an impressive performer in the Championship, with the 27-year-old excellent in Huddersfield's promotion to the Premier League in the 2016/17 season, registering four goals and ten assists in 45 appearances that campaign - and that was probably the main reason Jones elected to bring him in the summer.

The defender has he ability to produce real quality going forwards from full-back, and Jones signed him with a view to him providing width down the right-hand side in diamond formation this term, but Smith's struggles defensively have meant the Stoke boss had to play others ahead of him.

Jones will be hoping that Smith can start to find his form if he selected to start in the next few weeks, but the right-back will need to prove himself in training and highlight that he can defend as well as be creative going forwards, if he is to convince the Stoke manager to select him again in his starting line-up.