EPL Winners and Losers so Far in the 2011-2012 Season

Boy, was this one hell of a week in the English Premier League.

With Manchester United vs. Arsenal and Manchester City vs. Tottenham, there's always bound to be some entertainment—but no one expected that between those two fixtures a whopping 16 goals would be scored.

This weekend will be very hard to top; some classy winners turned on the style, while some devastating losers were exposed.

For the winners, this weekend was basically a dream come true. But for the losers, flaws in the squad were magnified, and it showed that things need to be changed in order to make the transition from a loser to a winner.

History was made this weekend, so without further ado, let's get to it.

Winner: The City of Manchester

Manchester is starting to seriously dominate the English Premier League.

Both Manchester clubs currently sit in the top two spots of the table, with United in first and City in second. They've both had a 100 percent win record so far this season, and between the two clubs, a massive 25 goals have been scored in just three matches.

Both clubs also enjoyed incredible wins this weekend, City with a 5-1 win over Tottenham and United with an 8-2 win over Arsenal. That's 13 goals for Manchester in this weekend alone, which is pretty impressive.

Manchester residents, red or blue, will go to bed after this match day feeling content.

Winner: Edin Dzeko

After a disappointing first season with Manchester City, Eden Dzeko is starting to shape up as a £27 million man, proving he was worth his hefty transfer fee.

This guy is on the right path to becoming the next Chicharito, already scoring six goals in his first three matches this season. I don't think Dzeko could manage to not hit the net even if he tried.

It's all due to his clinical finishing. Whether it's in the air or on the ground, the Bosnian just seems to get to the ball and put it in the back of the net.

He may not have been a favourite to win the Golden Boot at the beginning of the season, but at this rate, Dzeko will win that trophy by a mile.

Winner: Samir Nasri

As an Arsenal fan, I hate to say it—but Nasri had an excellent debut for Manchester City.

The Frenchman just had a great match, assisting three of City's five goals. His combination plays with Dzeko were superb, and Nasri's crossing was looking as accurate as ever.

As much as I hope his career crashes and burns at Etihad Stadium, it's already starting to look like Nasri's spell with Manchester City will be a successful one.

Winner: Wayne Rooney

What a match for Wayne Rooney.

The Englishman scored what will surely go down as one of the greatest hat-tricks of all time, converting two direct free kicks beautifully and slotting home a penalty to finish it off.

Just to make it even better, it was against Arsenal, United's bitter rival.

Even as a Gunners supporter, I've got to admit that Rooney's got pure, raw talent. Sure, he scored his goals against a weak Arsenal side that was even weaker due to injury and suspension, but a hat-trick is a hat-trick, and Arsenal is Arsenal.

Rooney's going to have a tough time topping this performance.

Winner: Anyone Who Was at Old Trafford (Besides Arsenal Fans)

Any United fan who bought tickets for Arsenal vs. Manchester United hoping for a thriller was in luck on Sunday.

Sure, a 3-1 or even 2-1 scoreline would've satisfied the fans, but I bet not one person in that stadium was expecting a 10-goal thriller. Toward the end of the match, they were probably scared to blink out of fear of missing another stunning goal.

Whoever bought tickets for that match (or at least Manchester United supporters) got so much more than they would've expected from a £50 match ticket.

For United fans, it was like paying for a BMW and getting a Ferrari instead.

On the other hand, for Arsenal fans, it was more like paying for a BMW and getting a toy Hot Wheels car.

Winner: Ashley Young

Yeah, just one more winner from that whopper of a match.

Although much of the attention was directed to hat-trick hero Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young had a superb match as well. The former Aston Villa midfielder scored two goals and had three assists, meaning he contributed to five of United's eight goals.

Not to mention the kinds of goals Young scored—both shots were screamers, hit from the edge of the box and curling into the far corner.

Young is taking no time to succeed as a Manchester United player, and he is setting quite a high benchmark for himself with three outstanding performances in his first three matches.

Loser: North London

Manchester, 13. North London, 3.

That was the score Sunday as both Manchester clubs ran riot over both North London clubs.

Although Arsenal and Tottenham hate each other with a passion, both clubs are having a massive decline in form and won't help but sympathizing with each other as the only two clubs that understand each other's hurt.

That's not to say Gooners don't hope Spurs continue this poor form forever and vice versa, but let's just say North London football has seen much better days.

Sure, people will try and justify Arsenal's loss by saying that several first-team players were out, but even I've given up on that, as it's really no use.

Arsene Wenger can't just let his fanbase—consisting of millions of passionate, loyal fans—suffer such humiliation. Arsenal hasn't conceded eight goals in a match since 1896 and, really, Wenger is at fault. The boss should have done much better to replace Nasri and Fabregas before these key matches, and his poor managerial fault has cost him very, very dearly.

I've been a supporter who has stood firm by "In Arsene, We Trust," always believing he knows what he's doing.

But after losing by six goals to bitter, hated rivals, I can't help but question what in the world this guy is thinking.

It seems like almost everyone wants Arsenal to get back on track, so let's hope they do exactly that with a seemingly-easy win against Swansea in two weeks—and that Wenger uses the remaining few days of the transfer window as efficiently as possible.

Loser: Anyone Who Had a Tottenham or Arsenal Defender on Their Fantasy Team

Now it's time for a bit of comical relief.

You've got to feel sorry for anyone who had an Arsenal or Spurs defender on their fantasy team.

Or imagine both? That's -13 points right there, a serious setback.

Arsenal now has the worst goal difference in the league, so it's actually a bit of a relief that they'll have a few players back to try and score hopefully four or more against Swansea in a couple weeks.

But I think the Gunners will prioritize a win in these circumstances.

Anyways, this game week could've been either a horrendous one for fantasy team managers or a completely phenomenal one. I've got to hand it to anyone who had both Rooney and Dzeko on their team.

Loser: Ben Foster

West Brom and Stoke City were all set up to finish their 0-0 stalemate at the Hawthorns, but in the 89th minute, Ben Foster made a tragic goalkeeping error that cost his side the point.

The loanee from Birmingham had a good game up until that point, holding up Stoke's attacks well with some solid reaction saves. But that one error just messed his whole game up.

Poor Ben Foster, it's always hard not to feel bad for the guy who's cast massive humiliation over himself in front of thousands of people. Luckily though, Foster is a talented keeper and has the potential to have a great season with West Brom.

Conclusion

This season is really starting to live up to its hype—except for North Londoners, they've had quite a bad few weeks.

But in terms of entertaining football, intense matches and brilliant goals, the 2011-2012 Premier League season has got it all so far.

Looking forward to next game week, both North London clubs have a chance to redeem themselves against Swansea and Wolves, while Liverpool takes on Stoke at the Britannia and United faces Bolton at the Reebok.

Unfortunately, there's the annoying international break, so we'll all be finding ourselves confused as to what to do without any football!

See you at the next kickoff...