Premier League Winners and Losers: De Gea, Gervinho, Barton and More

The 2011-12 Premier League season kicked off quite eventfully, with plenty of excitement to get the fans through the long week ahead before another weekend of top-flight football.

All of the ingredients for an action-packed Premiership gameweek were there: red cards, fights and stunning goals.

Although only a handful of teams won or lost their matches this weekend, it doesn't mean that there weren't plenty of winners and losers. Here they are...

Winner: Bolton Wanderers

A 4-0 win over newcomers QPR means that for a very short period of time, Bolton are at the top of the table.

Almost every goal the Wanderers scored was the result of some brilliant football, especially Fabrice Muamba's cool finish after a lovely move from Klasinic. And let's not forget Gary Cahill's superb strike to open the scoring, a goal that could be his last one for Bolton. 

Owen Coyle will be relieved that his side grabbed three points, as Bolton will have trouble grabbing any more in upcoming fixtures against Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United.

But for now, Bolton can celebrate their goal party against Queens Park Rangers. 

Winner: Sebastian Larsson

Just 57 minutes into the 2011-12 Premier League, we already have a nominee for the Goal of the Season. And it's this piece of awesomeness. 

Not only is it a brilliant volley, with perfect technique and timing, but what a way to equalize against Liverpool at Anfield...on his debut.

Yeah, Larsson scored this beauty of a goal on his first competitive match for Sunderland at one of the toughest stadiums in the world.

Enough said.

Winner: Ashley Young

Here's yet another player who scored a crucial goal on his Premier League debut for a new club.

Ashley Young had a superb game in his first Premier League match for Manchester United, and was rewarded with a goal that gave Manchester United the lead with just 10 minutes left to play.

Although some are calling it an own goal, as it clearly took a deflection off of Reid, it'll go down in the books as a goal on his debut. Either way, Young was arguably United's best player on the pitch, assisting Rooney's early goal.

Young is on the right track to a successful career at United, and is certainly a winner for this weekend. 

Winner: Shay Given

At 35 years old, Shay Given proved that he's still got it. In his competitive debut for Aston Villa against Fulham, he kept a clean sheet, making some crucial saves to ensure that Villa grabbed a point from their Premier League opener.

He's proving to be an excellent signing for Villa after the departure of Brad Friedel, and should be one of their key players as the Villans aim for a top-half finish.

Given had a lot of pressure on his shoulders, but put in an outstanding performance to make sure that he went 90 minutes without conceding a goal.

Loser: Queens Park Rangers

There's no better way to be welcomed to the Premier League than losing. Against Bolton. By four goals. At home.

With zero points and a negative four-goal difference, QPR now find themselves dead last in the table. But you've got to have some sympathy for them. Like most newly promoted clubs, QPR a high mentality going into their Premier League season, but this result will just put the team morale down the drain.

Others losers mentioned in this slide should be Danny Gabbidon, who scored an own goal, and Clint Hill, who got sent off. Not exactly how I'd want my Premier League debut to go.

Nonetheless, I'm not writing QPR off; after all, it's only Week 1. They've still got a whole season to keep themselves alive and even go for a mid-table finish.

Loser: Adel Taarabt

After being the star of Queens Park Rangers in their Championship-winning season, Adel Taarabt was supposed to light up the Premiership, leading his side to a respectable finish and another season in England's top flight.

But he hasn't lived up to the hype as his performance was uninspiring in QPR's crushing defeat to Bolton. I was among the people who wondered if Taarabt could make the transition from Championship to Premiership, and I'm already starting to doubt that he can.

But the season is young, and like QPR, Taarabt still has 37 matches to prove himself. For now, though, he's a loser in Week 1.

Loser: David de Gea

David de Gea has made two mistakes in two matches, but luckily Manchester United are good enough to make up for those blunders by grabbing wins anyways.

I don't think I'm the only one who's starting to get the feeling that David de Gea could be the next Fabien Barthez/Tim Howard/Ben Foster. In other words, he's going to be a promising young keeper who just can't handle the pressure of replacing a previous legend (in this case, the legend is Edwin van der Sar rather than Peter Schmeichel). That's not to say that de Gea doesn't have good hands or isn't agile; it's just that he's not much of a strong presence in the box, and he also has to practice on stopping long-range shots.

Manchester United's opposition is going to start to catch on, and will take shots from far out because they know de Gea will have trouble handling them. West Brom even did it a couple times today, but weren't successful until Shane Long's strike.

David de Gea has to start stopping those easy shots, or Sir Alex Ferguson may very well put Lindegaard in goal.

Loser: "King Kenny" and Anfield

After splashing the cash on upgrading the squad over the summer, Liverpool were faced with a seemingly comfortable Premier League opener against Sunderland at Anfield.

But after dominating the first half, the Reds faded and allowed Sunderland to equalize, meaning the two would share points in a 1-1 draw. 

"King Kenny" has spent tens of millions of pounds on new signings, with enough creative midfielders to play a 0-10-0 formation. So a 1-1 draw at home certainly wasn't a satisfactory result for the Liverpool boss.

But the real loser here is Anfield. Supposedly having fans like a "12th man," it's surprising that Liverpool couldn't manage to produce a good result at home, the stadium that's forever been a fortress to the Reds.

Loser: Gervinho

Even as an Arsenal supporter and a huge fan of Gervinho, I can't ignore that fact that a red card on his Premier League debut makes him a loser on this list.

But I just want to point out that for once, Arsene Wenger had a reasonable reaction to a red card. Rather than rendering the decision as a ridiculous one, he said that he thinks he "saw two yellows or two reds but not one yellow and one red." And that's completely true.

If both Joey Barton and Gervinho got the same punishment of a red or yellow card it would've been understandable, but the fact that Barton instigated the fight and got away with a yellow while Gervinho, the victim, got sent off, wasn't the best decision on the referee's behalf.

More on this in the next slide...

Loser: Joey Barton

Joey Barton may not have gotten a red card (wrongfully so), but he's definitely a loser.

After picking Gervinho off of the ground for diving, Barton grabbed the Ivorian by his shirt, before Gervinho finally defended himself by hitting the Newcastle defender. And what did Barton do? He dived to the ground like a little girl, claiming that Gervinho punched him. For a guy that's been to jail, he went down pretty easily.

Barton is a genuine hypocrite, a genuine bully and a genuine loser.

Loser: FIFA Fair Play Rules

For lovers of the non-stop entertainment of the Premier League, the season is off to a great start. But for FIFA and the FA, the season is off to a horrendous start.

Considering there's already been a fight, two red cards, loads of yellow cards and a whole lot of disrespect to the referees, FIFA's endless campaigns for respecting match officials still have a long way to go.

To be honest, I don't think footballers will ever respect referees, because refs will always have to make calls against each side.

This weekend goes down as a big loss for FIFA's fair play rules.

Conclusion

As always, in the comments you can feel free to voice who you thought were the winners and losers of the weekend. And if I missed an obvious one, just let me know.

Hope you enjoyed, and I look forward to covering what should be the most exciting Premier League season yet.