When new manager Roberto Matinez was recently placed in charge of the Lactics he was returning to the club that he had spent 6 years at as a player. Before coming back to Wigan, he spent a couple of seasons managing Swansea, another club he spent a few years at as a player, and by all accounts he did a bang up job. He lead Swansea to the League One Title and picked up Manager of the Season in his first year. His team held their own in the club’s first ever season in the second flight, finishing an impressive 8th in the Championship.

When a manager joins a new club it’s not unknown for him to raid some talent from his previous club. Unsurprisingly, Matinez grabbed Jason Scotland, a Trinidadian striker with a lethal strike rate over the last 5 years. In fact, at his last two clubs he’s consistently achieved a goal every two games – 33 in 66 at St Johnstone and 45 in 90 at Swansea. Not too shabby.

Scotland may be joined by the far less impressive Scott Sinclair, on loan from Chelsea for the season. Sinclair has been loaned out to more clubs than you can shake a stick at in the last few years, but hasn’t scored many goals.

Wigan have probably gained more column inches dedicated to who has left the club than who has joined this summer. Man Utd came calling with a large wedge of cash back in June and asked to exchange it for Antonio Valencia. “Sixteen million you say Sir Alex? Deal!!” He may not be that comparable to that Portuguese geezer, but he’s certainly been a standout player for Wigan over the last season or two.

Former Wigan boss, Steve Bruce, wanted to make a raid of his own on his old club by taking Lee Catermole up to Sunderland. Despite Chairman Dave Whelan telling Sunderland that they were wasting their time chasing Catermole before the end of July, the deal was concluded yesterday for six large ones.

Assuming that Martinez will be allowed to spend the proceeds from these two sales, he’ll have the best part of £20million left in the kitty. That’s unlikely to be much use before he brings his side to Villa Park on Saturday though.

Wigan’s pre-season form reflects the new personnel with the new manager opening his account with a 1-0 loss in Crewe. The club then travelled to Austria and played 3 friendlies in 4 days, drawing two and losing one. Their first game back in the UK was at Preston North End where Scotland made his debut in the second half scoring Wigan’s final goal in the 4-1 win.

July was closed out with a 3-2 loss by Norwich. Yes, that’s the same Norwich who were beaten 7-1 in the same stadium by Colchester last weekend. The same day that Bryan Gunn was having season tickets thrown at him, Wigan were playing their final dress rehearsal at home to St Mirren, running out comfortable 3-1 winners.

Skipper Mario Melchiot scored in the final game and has apparently been encouraged to get forward in a more attacking role by the new manager. I’m sure that will be music to Ashley Young’s ears. James Milner will probably want to get some time on the left wing too and repeat his performance from last night when he won his first full international cap.

With Villa bringing in the kind of confident summer form that beating the likes of Porto and Juventus generates, and Wigan apparently still transitioning to new management, it’s difficult to see anything but a home win here.

Not that Martin O’Neill would allow any complacency, but that’s the only likely downfall. MON may well have half an eye on next Thursday’s Europa League trip to Austria and an appointment at Anfield the following Monday, but getting a 3 point start to the season just can’t be passed up.

MON is hoping that Petrov will be fit for Saturday, but I don’t see any need to rush him back myself. Reo-Coker and Sidwell are more than capable of holding the midfield in this game, they’re fit and ready to play.

Luke Young has just restarted training, so will MON hand Lichaj his full league debut or throw new signing Beye straight into the fray. There’s a certain gamble either way.

Marc Albrighton may have burst into first team reckoning recently, but James Milner finally had the chance to show what he’s capable of in an England shirt, albeit on the left, and he’s surely a shoe-in with Ash to start. I wouldn’t be surprised if MON has every intention of giving Albrighton some time in Vienna though. The kid has a future, reflected in his new squad number, but he doesn’t need to be rushed. Plenty of time, plenty of games for Marc.

Up front, well MON still has a choice of five strikers; Heskey, Agbonlahor, Carew, Delfouneso and Harewood, and that’s probably the order he views them in too as far as I can tell. Carew totally owned the 10-man Scottish team in Oslo last night, Heskey didn’t have a shocker in Amsterdam, but he’s still the second choice “biggun up front” at Villa for me. If I were asked to bet right now on the pairing that MON is likely to pick I’d go for Heskey and Gabby. And if I’m honest, that makes me a little sad in my pants.

That said, the main thing is that the new season is finally here and I’m excited to see whoever is picked play some competitive football. We’re still a few players away from the squad required to take on the season, but the players at MON’s disposal right now are more than capable of leaving us fans smiling come the end of August.

Oh, and I promise that future previews won’t need splitting into two parts and won’t be as long as either of these posts. It’s the excitement of the new season, I’ll get over it, don’t worry.