Dana Wessel produces the K-TWIN Morning Show with Rider, Eric Perkins and Rena Sarigianopoulos on 96.3 K-TWIN Monday-Friday 5:30am-10:00am. He is our English soccer expert. Let's all listen to him. Dana?

Welcome back, Nuclear Warheads. We are already 7/38ths of the way through the Premier League season. Where does the time go? Next week, we have a break to catch our breath. International break! It is an international break I will be taking part in.

Jurgen Klinsmann gave me a call out of the blue last week. We chatted for a bit, mostly about homemade buffalo sauce and the main event at Wrestlemania 14, but then he casually mentioned he saw tape of my two-goal performance against Dakota Rev when I was 14. He said he had never seen such brilliance out of a striker, who was in the right place at the right time. He asked me how my fitness level was, and I explained to him I have been walking around like Mr Burns ever since I did the first 20 minutes of a P90X workout, tendays ago. He was discouraged, but asked if my game was sharp, and I told him how I quit in high school to play football, because I was too slow to be a striker and cheerleaders liked football players more than soccer players.

He hung up.

So I will not be playing next week, but I am going to the USMNT match in Connecticut anyway, for one very important reason. I simply have to be in attendance to say goodbye to the greatest US soccer player to ever slide on a pair of shinguards.

It will be an emotional night as Landon Donovan plays one more match for the US. I am overjoyed this is happening and can't believe I will be there. He deserves to go out like this after the World Cup debacle (don't get me started. I'll never get over it). And the fans deserve the chance to say goodbye and give him one last ovation after he has given us so much over the past 15 years. If Kleenex is smart, they'll sponsor the match.

On to the matches! It's a fun slate this weekend, and there's only one (kind of) early wakeup.

No. 1: Liverpool vs West Bromwich Albion at Anfield
When: Saturday at 9:00am on NBC Sports Network
Last year: Liverpool throttled West Brom 4-1 at Anfield last year behind a hat trick from Luis Suarez. He does not play for Liverpool any more.

We all knew Liverpool were going to start slow. That is inevitable, when you are replacing a guy who scored 33 goals in 31 games a year ago. But when you have your golden boy, Stevie G, calling his team soft, you know it might be time to worry.

Those comments came Wednesday after a toothless Liverpool side lost a midweek Champions League match to FC Basel. Liverpool failed to score a goal in the 1-0 defeat, and looked utterly lost when attacking. After scoring 101 league goals last season, Liverpool have only managed to score more than one goal in a league game twice this year.

Liverpool have been without Daniel Sturridge since August, and it doesn't appear he will be back this weekend. Some may point to his 24 goals last season, and claim everything will be fine once he is fit, but he has yet to prove he can score when opponents aren't employing the "let anybody else but Suarez beat us" tactics. He scored 31 Premier League goals in 43 appearances (.72 goals per game) with Suarez as a teammate. He scored 26 Premier League goals in 96 appearances (.27 GPG) before that.

That, of course, must be taken with a grain of salt. Those 96 appearances came with Manchester City, with Chelsea, on loan at Bolton, and back to Chelsea. He has obviously playing with much more confidence, now that he has found a permanent role on a team. But it is fair to wonder if he can match the success he has had the last two years, now that he will be playing with Mario Balotelli, who has been utterly dreadful, and not the brilliant but psychotic Suarez.

They face a West Brom team that has won two straight matches, after failing to record a win in their first four. They even managed to hang four goals in a game last week – granted, it was against Burnley (will they win a single game?) but still impressive. They have eight points - one more than Liverpool - and sit right in that mid-table pack that is all clumped together.

Liverpool are in a tough spot, and facing some difficult questions. The looks on the faces of their supporters piling out of the Long Room at Brits last Saturday after Everton's miracle equalizer said it all. Anything but three points Sunday at Anfield and those questions will just get louder and even harder to answer.

No. 2: Aston Villa vs Manchester City at Villa Park
When: Saturday at 11:30am on Big Boy NBC
Last year: Villa took City down at Villa Park early in the season a year ago 3-2. The home side found the game-winner in the 75th and the eventual champions had no answer.

Remember that perfect start to the season for Aston Villa? Neither do they. A pair of 3-0 loses will send a team back to earth pretty quickly. And their reward for having to play Chelsea and Arsenal in back-to-back weeks? The reigning champions. Let's all raise a glass, Villa!

But it isn't all bad news for the Villa. Christian Benteke is set to make his return Saturday, after tearing his Achilles tendon back in April. The 23-year old Belgian will be a huge boost to a Villa side that would love to replicate last year's home result against City, after messing the bed the past two weeks.

Manchester City keep fumbling their way through the Champions League, and could be on the outside looking in of the knockout stage for the third time in four years. They can complain all they want about getting a tough draw, but that will continue until they can put some semblance of a run together in Europe's top competition.

City finally found the win column last week, with a 4-2 win at Hull City, after going winless in their previous three (loss to Stoke and draws vs Arsenal and Chelsea). But despite some early points dropped, City are right where they want to be. They sit third, and are a manageable five points behind co-title favorites Chelsea. Remember, City were in 8th place last year on October 19th, and didn't claim the top spot for good until a 3-2 win over Everton on May 3rd. May 3rd!

City are big favorites in this one and you have to imagine the home side would be just fine taking a draw. Matches like this aren't what seems to trip City up. It's matches against, well, anybody in the Champions League that do that.

No. 3: Chelsea vs Arsenal at Stamford Bridge
When: Saturday at the very random start time of 8:05 am on NBC Sports Network
Last year: Ohhhhh, boy. This was a fun one last year (Editor's note: nope!). Chelsea beat their cross-town rivals 6-0. Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five. Six-rip. It was 4-0 at halftime. A joyous day for the Blue part of London, no doubt.

Well, lookie what we got here! A little derby dessert, after last week's delicious derby double-dip!

The last two unbeaten teams in the Premier League will do battle at Stamford Bridge this weekend, with the awkward start time of 8:05am. I am sure there is some sort of logic behind this starting at 8:05, but I can't come up with anything. Must be some silly British thing, that is actually pretty serious and I am going to feel bad for calling it some silly British thing. But hey, those 5 extra minutes before kick could come in handy. That is one extra hit of the snooze button! It is like my great, great, great, great uncle Binky "Blackjack" Wessel once said: "Cherish every hit of the snooze button." He was a wise man. Write that lesson down.

So, Chelsea and Arsenal. Arsenal and Chelsea. Like two peas in a pod, that hate each other, and have fans that can't go six minutes without trolling each other on Twitter.

With all due respect, it has been a bit of a lopsided rivalry the past few seasons. In their last 12 meetings spanning all competitions, Chelsea have won eight and drawn two. In Arsenal's defense, one of those two wins was at Stamford Bridge in the 2011-12 season. It was a 5-3 beatdown that sent Chelsea in a downward spiral that resulted in winning Champions League and the FA Cup.

As far as recent form goes, the lone blemish on Chelsea's record remains that 1-1 draw at Manchester City two weeks ago. Arsenal, on the other hand, remain unbeaten - but did pick up four draws in the process, including some they'd love to have back, like at Leicester City and home vs Tottenham.

But Arsenal will come to the Bridge with a full head of steam, thanks to a 4-1 hosing of Galatasaray on Tuesday, where Danny Welbeck scored a hat trick. That investment is already paying off. Funny, they paid the same for him that Liverpool paid for Balotelli. Welbeck is scoring goals and his workrate is immense. Balotelli has been aimlessly wandering around the field, like that awkward dude at a party who isn't sure what he should be doing.

Chelsea got all three points last week against Villa in convincing fashion, and got all three points in their midweek Champions League match in somewhat less convincing fashion. They come into the match fit, with the possible exception of this mysterious Diego Costa hamstring injury. This has to be either one of two things: 1) A smoke-screen from Jose to keep opponents guessing and convince Spain not to call him into international duty. 2) His hamstring really is hanging by a thread and could literally explode at any second. I would be devastated if it was No. 2, but I would get a chuckle out of the ticker on the bottom line saying "Diego Costa out (hamstring explosion)."

Given current form and recent history between the two clubs, you have to like Chelsea's chances on Sunday. But this is the Premier League; we know better than to assume anything.

All righty, that'll do it. Talk to everyone in two weeks. Enjoy the weekend slate and the international break. Until next time, keep your studs down and your knee over the ball.