Stoke and Manchester City played out a disappointing 1-1 draw last night, handing fantasy managers little pay back for their hopeful double gameweek investment in the players involved.

Goals from Glenn Whelan and Gareth Barry are unlikely to put too many smiles on faces out there and with no clean sheets on show, we can only hope and pray for better returns when Wigan meet Bolton later this evening. I can almost taste the futility in those words as they were typed.

The teamsheets were at least of some interest last night. Tony Pulis delivered on his promise to rotate his lineup – Matt Etherington, Salif Diao, Andy Wilkinson and Tuncay all dropped out with Liam Lawrence, Dean Whitehead, Rory Delap and skipper Abdoulaye Faye making returns…

Etherington’s absence was of course forced by his recent knee injury, but the other moves were the latest evidence that Stoke now have a squad that allows Pulis some flexibility in his lineup. The omission of Tuncay was particularly annoying for fantasy investors. It appears that the Turk still cannot pin down an assured starting role. With Fuller, Beattie and Sidibe as effective muscular weapons up front – a wide role, with Etherington out, may well be Tuncay’s most likely position over the coming weeks.

There also appears to be a constant threat of rotation in the Stoke defence – although a back injury to Higginbotham in this match, resulting in Collins replacing him in the second-half and Faye’s red card which will see him miss the weekend, will reduce Pulis’ options in the short-term.

It’s a trip to Portsmouth for Stoke next – giving us fantasy managers the hope that our double gameweek investment may pay off in gamweek 27. Stoke then have three home games in the next four, although the opposition are Arsenal, Villa and Spurs. Given that Stoke are one of the sides that do have a fixture in gameweek 29 however, it seems worthwhile to sit tight on their players until that gameweek’s fixtures are decided by FA Cup results.

Moving on to City and Mancini also tinkered. Wayne Bridge, Stephen Ireland, Pablo Zabaleta, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Martin Petrov all missed out, with Micah Richards, Adam Johnson, Javier Garrido, Patrick Vieira and Roque Santa Cruz earning starts.

City went with Adebayor and Santa Cruz up front then – a unlikely pairing perhaps and one that made little impression on the Stoke defence throughout the night – other than prompting the decision to dismiss Stoke skipper Abdoulaye Faye for dragging back Adebayor early in the second-half. Carlos Tevez won’t have to worry about earning a recall then. He is due to return from Argentina today following the birth of his child and Mancini will surely rush him back to his starting lineup when Liverpool visit Eastlands this weekend.

The likes of Zabaleta, Bridge, Petrov and Wright-Phillips will all fancy their chances of a recall in that game – meaning that the City lineup is far from settled. Adam Johnson may keep a starting berth. Significantly he came out of last night’s match with two more Fantasy Premier League bonus points, giving him a handy return of four bonus and an assist over the double fixture gameweek. At just 6.0 in midfield, there will surely be continued interest in him if we can see evidence that the winger has cemented a starting role in Mancini’s lineup.

With City facing Liverpool, Chelsea and then either a missing fixture or a home game with Spurs in gamweek 29, it will be interesting to see how many fantasy managers hold on to Tevez and their other double gameweek investments.