Stoke City have made a disappointing start to the new season and are currently bottom of the Championship table on goal difference after losing three of their opening four league matches.

Nathan Jones brought in several new players during the summer transfer window in an attempt to strengthen his squad, including striker Scott Hogan, who joined on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.

The 27-year-old scored plenty of goals in the Championship for Brentford in 2016/17, but struggled to make an impact after moving to Villa Park and spent the second half of last season on loan at Sheffield United, where he scored two goals in eight appearances.

The striker has featured in every game since his move to Stoke and netted a brace at the weekend as the Potters picked up their first points of the season with a 2-2 draw at home to Derby County.

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Former Stoke defender Danny Higginbotham has given his take on Hogan's start to his Stoke career in an exclusive interview with Football League World.

Higginbotham believes Hogan is capable of scoring goals for Stoke in the Championship this season and says his double against Derby at the weekend will give the striker a huge confidence boost.

"It's an opportunity for him. For whatever reason it didn't work out for him at Villa, but he's proven at this level as a goalscorer, we saw that at Brentford," Higginbotham told Football League World, in an exclusive interview with Chief Editor Sam Rourke.

"I went to watch the game against Derby on Saturday. You could say that Stoke were unfortunate, they missed a lot of gilt-edge chances, but I think from Nathan Jones' perspective, the second goal, the link up between Gregory and Hogan, I think that's something that will have pleased him no end.

"They want to be on the front foot, they've got plenty of players who can create changes, there's no doubt about that. If Hogan can get in the right place at the right time, then there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to get himself a few goals.

"He's been credited with both goals from Saturday. He'll be absolutely delighted with that and it'll be a real confidence boost for him."