Nuclear Wessel: Chelsea at Manchester City highlights the Premier League weekend

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 Premier League expert and we love him dearly. Dana?

And we're back!!!

Hopefully your time since we last talked has gone better than Roger Goodell's. Woof. Has anybody checked on him lately? I picture him holed up in a room, unshowered, looking like Will Ferrell in the "Milk was a bad choice" Anchorman scene, and binge-watching LOST on Netflix in the fetal position.

The NFL has a lot of people, especially locally, feeling pretty icky right now - so what better way to cure what ails you than a great slate of Premier League magnificentness. And no, I don't say this because I think the sport of soccer is by any means morally better than football. Lord knows the corruption in FIFA makes the NFL look like a lemonade stand run by third-graders. I am just merely pointing out that right now, as I type this, the NFL is about as appealing as the chick from the Exorcist.

Liverpool's shock defeat at home to Aston Villa and the City/Arsenal draw highlighted last week's action. Also, I wanna give a shout-out to one team in particular. One thing that makes the Premier League great is, despite the size difference between top and bottom clubs, any team can find a way to get a result each weekend, no matter how small and outmatched they are. And it is always special when some of the smaller clubs get their first win of the season. It means a lot to the long-suffering fans and the players alike.

So with all that being said, I wanna give a big CONGRATULATIONS to Manchester United on their massive upset of QPR last weekend. So cool to see that even the small dogs can have their day in the sun.

Onto the matches!

What a result last week for Aston Villa at Anfield! Second in the table after four matches?! Are they for real?!?

No.

But good for them for getting off to a nice little start, and all the credit in the world for holding off that onslaught of opportunities from Liverpool last Saturday. The away fans were elated and that is always awesome to see - especially at Anfield.

We all know you can't punch above your weight for 38 league matches. Villa's next four are against Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal. Manager Paul Lambert might be happy he got that that contract extension this week because four straight losses could be on the horizon.

But they are playing with confidence right now and that makes this match scary for an Arsenal team that is having a hard time piecing things together. They have no wins in their last six matches (including Champions League).

It is no secret what Aston Villa is doing right. They've given up just one goal in four matches. It is also not hard to see what Aston Villa is not doing right. They only had one shot last week against Liverpool (it went in). Arsenal are the favorites and you have to believe Wenger and his merry, but injured, men find a way to exploit this.

No. 2: West Ham vs Liverpool at Boleyn Ground
When: Saturday at 11:30 on Big Boy NBC
Last year: Liverpool won this one 2-1 last year thanks to two penalties by Steven Gerrard. At least one of them was dodgy as all get up. Or maybe both were. Or maybe none of them were and I am just being biased here. I dunno. You tell me. I am probably being biased.

If the loss to Villa last Saturday at Anfield was burning the roof of your mouth with a scorching hot piece of pizza, then the return to Champions League on Tuesday was a soothing and delicious popsicle*. I have never really shied away from my feelings about Liverpool in this place, or in any Premier League-related conversation (if you're new: I'd happily pay upwards of $5,000 to see Stevie G take a bocce ball to the crotch). But I will admit that it was cool to see them return to the club game's biggest stage. You could see how much it meant to their [redacted] fans.

*Popsicles are great and know no age limit. Remember that.

This West Ham match is kind of the turd between two delicious pieces of bread for Liverpool. They had their emotional return to Champions League Wednesday, and have the Merseyside derby next week. But they mustn't overlook this turd, because in the Premier League, every turd counts- okay, I am just going to stop with that metaphor. Liverpool have already dropped six points through four matches in league play, and can't afford to drop more just because they're looking ahead to next Saturday's match against Everton.

I haven't seen much of West Ham yet, but I did happen to see that Enner Valencia screamer Monday against Hull City. Liverpool will want to, ya know, make sure that doesn't happen to them. And this concludes my scouting report on Hull City.

You're being kind if you classify Liverpool's start to the season as "rocky." They needed a penalty Tuesday in the 90th minute to beat some janky Bulgarian side, after giving up the equalizer seconds earlier. But I have no doubt they can put it together against West Ham. And I hope they do. I want both them and Everton firing on all cylinders heading into next Sunday. Merseyside derbies are fantastic.

No 3. Manchester City vs Chelsea at Etihad Stadium
When: Sunday at 10:00am on NBC Sports Network - kinda surprised this one doesn't get the Big Boy NBC treatment.
Last year: Chelsea and Jose Mourinho shocked just about everybody last year by beating City 1-0 at the Etihad. City hadn't lost at home in something like 4,289 straight matches, but a Branislav Ivanovic goal in the 32nd was enough for the visitors to parallel park a couple buses and get three massive points.

This is the big one. The two far-and-away title favorites, squaring off for the first of two league matches. Being just the fifth match of the season, you would have thought these two would be neck-and-neck, but City have managed to drop four points already. Chelsea have the opportunity to go seven points clear of their title rival early in the season if they can have a repeat of last year's performance at the Etihad.

Both teams took a shot below the belt this week in the Champions League, and aren't exactly coming into Sunday flying. Chelsea had chance after chance to put Schalke away but had to settle for a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. City played well enough to earn a draw at Bayern Munich, but Joe Hart got beat in the 90th minute to give the early Group E advantage to the Germans.

Chelsea are perfect through four matches in league play but there is still plenty to worry about. They conceded first in two of those matches and the defense has looked uncharacteristically shaky at times. Adding to their worry is the Diego Costa situation. Mourinho came out and said he isn't healthy enough right now to play two games in a week. He played 20 largely unproductive minutes on Wednesday, after Didier Drogba couldn't shake the rust off and find the back of the net.

This match also carries some emotional weight for the visitors as Chelsea will be facing one of their own. Club legend Frank Lampard is currently on loan at City from New York City Football Club. He has only featured in one match this season so he isn't likely he'll play, but it will give the traveling fans a chance to sing their approval and his old teammates a chance for some bro-hugs. Last year Drogba faced Lampard and Chelsea as a member of Galatasaray. This year Lampard will face Drogba and Chelsea as a member of Manchester City. Sports are weird sometimes.

You have to imagine there will be some desperation from Manchester City. The last thing the reigning champions want is to allow Chelsea to go even further clear. Having already lost once at home, they must take care of business in front of their home fans.

Expect Mourinho to have something up his sleeve, like he always does for these types of matches. Get up early and get to the pub for this one. It has the makings of the classic. And when it's over, go outside and enjoy a beautiful Sunday. Screw the NFL.