Premier League football returned to stadiums and our TV screens for the first time in a couple of months, and teams kicked off the 2023/24 season in style.

There was Manchester City’s dominant win over Burnley, Newcastle’s demolition of Aston Villa, and Chelsea and Liverpool’s entertaining 1-1 draw. Gameweek one concluded on Monday night with Manchester United's 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Every team in the division had a new look to them too, with several players either switching teams or arriving from abroad. Supporters got a first glimpse of what the future would look like for their clubs, and what they might be able to expect in the weeks and months that are to come.

The 'Big Six' clubs have been especially busy in the market, with Pep Guardiola’s City completing deals for Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol, while Mauricio Pochettino has brought several players to Stamford Bridge already. With each side looking to make upgrades in certain areas, you can be sure that none of these starting XIs are set in stone just yet.

Activity in the transfer market is one reason why we have been left with egg on our face today. A month ago, the team at GIVEMESPORT predicted what the starting lineups for each Big Six club would be for week one of the new season. We weren’t just factoring in players already at the club, but also considering who might be leaving or joining in the coming weeks.

With the benefit of hindsight, some of our calls from July look particularly foolish now. So we thought we would see just how wrong our predictions went. Spoiler alert - two weren’t great.

Arsenal - 8/11

Not a bad start for us at all. And this score might have been even higher were it not for a few injuries to key Arsenal players.

Defence was arguably the most difficult part of the Gunners’ set-up to get right. Mikel Arteta’s side are so stacked in that part of the pitch, with quality across the backline. Aaron Ramsdale was always a safe bet in goal, but we thought that Gabriel Magalhães would partner William Saliba in a back four for their opener against Forest, with Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko starting in the full-back positions.

Although White and Saliba did start, Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber lined up in place of the other two. The latter is unlikely to make an appearance in the near future though, as he picked up an injury in his Premier League debut.

Our midfield was spot on though, with Kai Havertz expected to take up a deeper position compared to where he played for rivals Chelsea. Declan Rice and club skipper Martin Odegaard also were relatively nailed on as well.

The front three was nearly perfect and likely would have been were it not for the knee injury Gabriel Jesus picked up. As it turned out, Eddie Nketiah played up front against Forest, bagging the opening goal on Saturday.

Chelsea - 6/11

We went bold with our Chelsea predictions in July, expecting them to sign another number nine and Moises Caicedo before their match against Liverpool kicked off. Neither of those things happened, although Caicedo has now joined the Blues after a tug-of-war between the west London club and their opponents on Sunday.

Despite playing a 4-2-3-1 for much of their pre-season, Pochettino sprung a surprise against Liverpool by naming a back three. We did not expect Axel Disasi to move from Monaco, but he lined up alongside Levi Colwill and Thiago Silva, who we expected to be the starting centre-backs. In goal, Kepa Arrizabalaga joined Real Madrid on loan before the match, guaranteeing a debut for Robert Sanchez and ensuring we got another prediction wrong.

Ben Chilwell and Reece James were always going to start if fully fit. But with Caicedo not in the team, Conor Gallagher took up the position next to Enzo Fernandez, having a solid game against Liverpool as well.

Now, this is where we really blew it. Christopher Nkunku’s injury, which will sideline him for a few months, meant that Carney Chukwuemeka was given the chance to start. Noni Madueke had to settle for a spot on the bench, and Dusan Vlahovic, our wildcard pick here, did not make the switch to west London as we thought he might, with Pochettino reportedly “unconvinced” by the forward.

Nicolas Jackson was trusted to lead the line against Liverpool, meaning that our only correct attacking prediction was Raheem Sterling. Despite all that though, we made more errors when predicting another team’s lineup…

Liverpool - 9/11

Our predictions for the other team playing at Stamford Bridge on Sunday were much better. Joel Matip might have been preferred in defence over Ibrahima Konate, but Jurgen Klopp opted to start the Frenchman, ensuring that he picked the backline we thought Liverpool would use for their first match of the season.

Fabinho was our only wrong call in the middle of the pitch, with the 29-year-old joining Al-Ittihad at the end of last month. Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai were instead partnered by Cody Gakpo. That is a trio which will likely not be seen again, as the Reds continue their search for a new addition to the engine room.

Up front, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah were both good shouts, but Darwin Nunez was left on the bench despite his impressive pre-season. Klopp instead played Diogo Jota as the third attacker, before turning to his Uruguayan attacker in the second half.

Manchester City - 5/11

Predicting how Guardiola sends out his team is pretty cub impossible given all the options the Spaniard has at his disposal. So unsurprisingly, we absolutely butchered this XI.

Our predictions in defence were horrific. We expected Josko Gvardiol to leave RB Leipzig for the Cityzens which he did, but unfortunately, the Croatian started the match against Burnley on the bench. Things were then also complicated by the fact Guardiola decided against using the formation that City were so successful with last season, so Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker all played instead of Ruben Dias, Gvardiol and John Stones.

Midfield was not much better. Kevin De Bruyne recovered from his injury to start the match, although he was replaced in the first half after picking up yet another knock. His presence meant Kovacic dropped to the bench, where he was joined by Jack Grealish.

Phil Foden and Haaland were good shouts, but Riyad Mahrez maybe wasn’t. The Algerian completed a move to Al-Ahli last month for £30 million. All in all, a poor effort from us.

Manchester United - 10/11

We might have got the formation wrong, but we nearly got 100% of the team right for United's opener. There were no surprises in defence against Wolves, with Erik ten Hag picking a backline which was very familiar to supporters.

Midfield was a surprise, but only because the Red Devils played Casemiro behind a bank of four. Fernandes and Mount were flanked by Antony on the right, but we thought Rashford would be playing off the left. As it turned out, Alejandro Garnacho was preferred out wide, with Rashford playing a central role up front.

Garnacho starting meant there was no place for new signing Rasmus Hojlund, who we thought would lead the line. The Danish striker picked up a knock in pre-season which ruled him out of United's first game, ensuring we didn't complete a clean sweep here.

United came away with a 1-0 victory against Wolves on the night, although they needed a scrappy effort from Raphael Varane to get the job done. Don’t expect them to wait too long to introduce Hojlund to the starting lineup once he's fit.

Tottenham Hotspur - 7/11

We’re ending on a decent note, with only a few surprises from Ange Postecoglou for his first Premier League game. We went three for five in defence, with our full-back choices both wrong. Tottenham lined up against Brentford with Emerson Royal and Destiny Udogie in place of Pedro Porro and Ben Davies.

We got our shape slightly wrong here too, with Postecoglou opting for a 4-2-3-1 instead of a 4-3-3. As a result, there was no place for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, with Oliver Skipp starting alongside Yves Bissouma and James Maddison.

Then there is the big absentee. We weren’t sure if Harry Kane would still be at the club come the start of the season, but predicted that Daniel Levy would keep a hold of his prized asset. However, England’s record goalscorer completed a move to Bayern Munich last week, guaranteeing that we would have at least one wrong prediction in this team.

Instead, Richarlison partnered Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski. That is likely to be the attacking trio for much of the 2023/24 season unless Tottenham reinvest some of the Kane funds into a new number nine.