Nuclear Wessel: Your March Madness (EPL) guide

Dana Wessel works at Go963 FM in Minneapolis and formerly worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car under their excellent corporate structure where *they* gave *him* the tools to be his own boss.

Welcome back to another edition of Nuclear Wessel!

Plenty of soccer to supplement your March Madness viewing this weekend. It may be the first weekend of spring, but it is going to be cold. Might be your last great chance to not feel bad for logging serious hours on the couch while watching men in much better shape than you compete while you have buffalo sauce all over your shirt! America!

The season is over two months from this weekend. If this was a Rocky movie, the fighters would be entering the arena now for the final fight.

No. 1: Newcastle vs Arsenal at St James Park

When: Saturday at 10:00AM on NBC Sports Network

Last year: Arsenal beat Newcastle at St James Park last year in a rather non-descript match. Olivier Giroud had the match's only goal in the 55th minute to secure all three for the Gunners.

Congrats to Arsenal on winning a trophy this week. For the fifth straight year they won their 'We Made it to the Round of 16 of Champions League and were Knocked Out But We Battled Hard and Everybody Wrote Nice Things About How Hard We Battled So We Are Happy' trophy. Nice!

Arsenal complained about the away goals rule (give up fewer!) and feel bad about themselves over the tough draws they've gotten the last few years (win your group instead of finishing runner up) but all they have to blame is themselves.

But their continued European ineptitude just gives them more time to ensure they finish top four since they can continue the vicious cycle next year. It would take an epic collapse for them to finish worse than fourth. They will keep winning in the league — especially this week against a Newcastle team that's packed it in — and hope that Chelsea drop enough points to give them a license to dream.

No. 2: Liverpool vs Manchester United at Anfield

When: Sunday at 8:30AM on NBC Sports Network

Imagine saying this next sentence five years ago: Liverpool host Manchester United on Sunday and the winner will be have a leg-up on their rival for the fourth and final Champions League spot.

A sentence like that five years ago would have been considered science fiction. But it is 2015 and it's a new world. And it is great! For some of us at least!

Given the date and number of matches remaining, it may be tempting to say screw it and do a cannonball into a pool full of hot take sauce about the significance of this match. Don't get me wrong, this is match is massive. Enough ramifications to kill a man. But Liverpool still play at Arsenal (next week) and home to Chelsea. United still play City and Arsenal and at Chelsea. So there will still be plenty of points out there to drop and plenty more HUGE MATCHUPS to smother in hot take sauce.

But again, don't let that harsh your mellow for this Sunday morning. You're gonna wanna get up for this one. It is huge. The fact Liverpool are even in this position is nothing short of amazing. Just think if Brendan Rodgers is ever able to string together a full season? They could go level with Blackburn on number of Premier League titles won. Think about that!

Liverpool have been by far the class of the Premier League since January 1 but unfortunately for them the season started in August. They haven't lost a league match this calendar year and their only draw came in a Merseyside derby. United are feeling pretty good about themselves after patting Spurs on the head last week and saying "time for the big boys to play for the top four. Enjoy Europa."

No. 3: Hull City vs Chelsea at The KC Stadium

When: Sunday at 11:00AM on NBC Sports Network

Last year: 2-0 win for the Blues at Hull last January. Hazard opened the scoring before Fernando Torres scored his second-to-last Premier League goal for Chelsea to ice the match.

Chelsea head into this match against the No. 15 Hull City Tigers with a six-point lead at the top of the table and a match in-hand.

Sounds like a pretty great position to be in, huh? But from the way people have been talking about them this week you'd think they are facing relegation. Sure, they had a chance to go eight points clear of City this weekend had they gotten a full three points against Southampton. But guess what? Southampton is good! A draw against the sixth place Saints is not a bad thing! Heading into last weekend, with City playing at Burnley, it appeared, if anything, City would gain points on Chelsea. But they didn't. Chelsea picked up another point on them. These are all good things for the Blues with less than 10 matches remaining in the league.

That being said, if they get anything less than three points Sunday against Hull, you can print that last paragraph out, ball it up, stick it in a Roman Candle, dip it in gas and fire it through the sky.

Hull sit 15th in the league and their three-point lead over No. 18 Burnley means their noses are just barely above the relegation waters. They are coming off a pair of draws against fellow bottom-feeders Sunderland and Leicester City. They did manage a 1-1 draw at the Etihad against Manchester City in February but, given City's recent form, that is a result that looks better on paper than it really is.

Chelsea need three on Sunday. Well, they need three from every match from now until May, but Sunday is especially important with back-to-back matches against Man United and at Arsenal looming in a month.