Premier League Winners and Losers: Manchester Derby, Super Mario, and Chelsea

Although they may be loud, Manchester City fans will no longer be regarded as the "noisy neighbours."

That's because the blue moon is undoubtedly rising.

Gameweek 9 of this so far tantalizing Premier League season was possibly the best yet, giving us plenty of action with two heated derbies, thirty one goals, and two days worth of top notch football.

However, this weekend was more than just another gameweek—it seemed to be a turning point. Manchester City were the unlikely victors at Old Trafford, and made it look easy in the process. That victory certainly establishes City as favourites to win the Premier League title, and the blue half of Manchester will certainly be a force to reckon with in the future of both English football and World Football.

As well as that, Arsenal enjoyed their first back to back Premier League win since February, seeing them slowly but surely claw their way back towards the top of the table.

Then, of course, there was QPR's controversial upset of Chelsea at Loftus Road, a result that would've been the most surprising of the weekend if it weren't for a certain other fixture mentioned earlier...

I'll be covering it all in this week's Premier League Winners and Losers...

Winner: Manchester City

Where do I begin...

After Manchester United's 8-2 thumping of Arsenal at Old Trafford, some people were already saying that the Red Devils had the title in the bag.

Well, those people swallowed their words on Sunday.

Manchester City were absolutely brilliant as their attack picked apart the United defense, scoring the same way a number of times through their multiple world class strikers. The compelling thing is that this match was supposed to be pretty close, in fact, United were slight favourites with the home advantage.

But in the end it was really like watching men against babies, something that I don't think anybody expected.

With a 5 point lead at the top of the table already, this season's title race now has to be looked at with a completely different perspective.

Winner: Super Mario

"Super Mario" Balotelli was especially super on Sunday as he scored two goals to down rivals Manchester United.

The Italian has enjoyed tremendous form in recent weeks, now scoring six in his last five Premier League matches. After he lit his own house on fire with fireworks this weekend, there was a scare that he'd return to his old self, but that theory's gone to bits with his explosive performance at Old Trafford (see what I did there?).

At just 21 years old, it's incredible to imagine what this boy will be doing at the peak of his career.

Winner: Wolves

Moving on from the Manchester derby, there was plenty of action from the lower half of the table this weekend as Wolves overcame a two goal deficit to salvage a draw at home.

Mick McCarthy's men started the season in style, but since then Wolves' form has dropped and fans were questioning their manager in the last few minutes of this match against Swansea.

Although it's not the happiest of days for Wolves fans, their second half comeback of scoring goals within the space of two minutes was quite impressive, and they deserve to be winners for now.

Winner: Norwich

Anfield isn't nearly as much of a fortress as it has been in the past. Liverpool have dropped a number of points at home against teams that they should be beating, and after millions of pounds of summer spending the Reds simply aren't as strong as most people thought they would be.

But then again, Norwich have been the opposite—stronger than most people expected them to be. They currently sit in 8th place with 12 points, shocking a number of doubters and proving that they deserve to stay in the Premiership.

Although it was only a draw, it was quite an impressive draw from the Canaries as they continued their impressive start to the Premier League season.

Winner: Robin Van Persie and Arsenal

What crisis?

I hope I don't jinx it, but Arsenal seem to be bouncing back from their devastating summer and early poor form with some impressive wins including a 1-0 win over Marseille at the Vélodrome.

This crucial 3-1 victory over Stoke City, a team that Arsenal often struggle against, means the Gunners have won six in their last seven matches in all competitions. Yet another excellent performance from Robin Van Persie saw him score a brace, as he's enjoying the best form of his career with Arsenal and is finally seeming to stay fit.

Both "the Flying Dutchman" and Arsenal are winners this week, and they'll be hoping they can keep up the good results to climb up the table.

Loser: Manchester United

No surprise here.

Manchester United are undoubtedly losers this week as they were demolished by their Manchester rivals in front of their very own fans. 

After the Red Devil's 8-2 pounding of Arsenal, United got a taste of their own cooking in a derby match that was said to be a title decider, a match that many (including myself) predicted would be won by a close margin or even a draw. United's defeat seemed even worse than the one they inflicted to Arsenal, as it was in front of the home fans and there were no major injuries to the squad.

But it's not impossible to figure out where Manchester United got it wrong. Sir Alex Ferguson greatly underestimated his squad. While City have three world class strikers to rotate, United really only have one, maybe two if you count Chicharito, but he doesn't even start anymore. Although young Danny Welbeck does show promise, he may not be ready just yet to be expected to score in these high intensity matches.

United's flaws were certainly pointed out on Sunday, showing that they're far from being perfect.

Loser: Chelsea

Chelsea were handed a bitter upset by West London rivals QPR at Loftus Road on Sunday afternoon.

In the end, it was really 90 minutes of a pure mess for the Blues, but many people—both Chelsea fans and non-Chelsea fans—thought the scoreline was a result of injustice from the referee.

They say the score is the most important statistic of a match, but go on to the next slide to get all the dirty (quite literally) details.

Loser: Chris Foy

As the referee of Chelsea's controversial 1-0 defeat to QPR, Chris Foy was automatically viewed as the scapegoat.

But unlike most referees being blamed, this blame was justified. Foy booked a whopping nine Chelsea players, with seven receiving yellow cards and the pair of Bosingwa and Drogba getting sent off. On top of this he awarded QPR with a soft penalty, the goal which ended up being the winner.

Although I'm not a Chelsea fan (I despise them), I do understand the Blues' frustration at a poor piece refereeing. Sure, some of the bookings were understandable, but nine is a bit much and just by looking at the statistics of this match you can tell that Chris Foy would get a ton of stick.

Something has to change with Premier League referees.