Aventum Fantasy Football - Manager of the Month March

It ain’t over til it’s over! Manchester City were almost being handed the Premier League trophy after blitzing the competition with a 12-match winning run between November and January, but after their own nine-game winning streak, Liverpool now sit just one point behind the champions at the end of March (having played the same number of games). April includes the crucial fixture between the two contenders at the Etihad in gameweek 32, making it the pivotal month in the title’s final destination. But it will be equally as pivotal in the Aventum Fantasy League after a month that has changed everything at the top and set up an exciting run in for the Apple Watch top prize.

Time and again we have said it just takes one big week to put yourself in contention, and that was definitely the case in March. Having had a great season up to now keeping the long-time leaders within his sights (he was 53 points off top spot at the end of March, in third), Alex Bottomley blew the competition away in gameweek 28. His decision to opt for Chelsea players, while their off-the-pitch struggles were making headlines, in an inviting double gameweek, saw him make huge gains on his rivals, and he now sits top of the league as of the end of March, albeit just 7 points ahead of second place.

After surging to the top of the overall standings, it’s perhaps little surprise that Alex Bottomley of Marsh also took home the prize for March Manager of the Month. It was another month for managers to profit from multiple match gameweeks – something all our top-scoring managers did to good effect in the month. Even going into penultimate month of the season, there remains unevenness in the fixtures teams have played, so keep an eye on the fixture lists, and you could be claiming the bottle of champagne next month!

The shake-up in the overall standings has made for an exciting final couple of months of the season in the Aventum Fantasy League. Any of the top five could yet make a play for the Apple Watch top prize, including last year’s champion Cormac who sits in fourth. Seven managers sit within a hundred points of the leader, and as we’ve seen this month, any of these managers could yet make a move with good use of their captain. For those managers further back and out of contention, it might be time to think about saving any chips you have and using them to have a tilt at the final two manager of the month awards.