I was a little bit hesitant when Colossus Bets first approached me to produce a blog for their new website.

After all, I had previously stated that I wasn’t in this for money. I’d done all that before and my current blog was a chance to write on my terms with the freedom of producing what I wanted when I wanted.

Mind you, I didn’t take much persuading and the opportunity of a free £100 bet to trial their new Colossus match bet sounded intriguing – especially when they told me I could win £10m quid (ok, so maybe I am in this for the money – can you blame me?).

Let me explain a little, Colossus Bets is a new football betting website with a difference. Their headline bet is known as “The Colossus” (as you may have guessed) and it offers you the opportunity of winning £10m from just £2 – a pretty tidy profit, right?

The idea is to predict the outcome of seven Barclays Premier League matches. And, thanks to the flexibility of the Colossus, you can cover as many scorelines as you wish in order to give you the best opportunity of winning the huge jackpot.

Understand? Ok. Good.

So, as a preview to the new Premier League campaign and in my attempt to win £10m, here are my predictions for the seven selected Colossus matches.

Liverpool 1-0 Stoke City

The first game of the new season sees a Luis Suarez-minus Liverpool face-off against Mark Hughes’ new look Stoke City. I say “new look”, unless we see a dramatic change in personnel between now and the end of the transfer window, I suspect Stoke City’s football won’t be too dissimilar from under previous boss Tony Pulis. I mean, there’s only so much you can do with a frontline of Cameron Jerome, Peter Crouch and Kenwyne Jones, isn’t there?

Liverpool, on the other hand, have continued to recruit players who are technically assured and adept at dissecting opposition defences. Nevertheless, I’d expect a close encounter here and Stoke will be no pushovers. A narrow home win.

Norwich City 2-2 Everton

I’ve got the feeling this will be a pretty open encounter. The Canaries have added some impressive firepower to their squad in the shape of Dutchman Ricky van Wolfswinkel while Gary Hooper has arrived from Celtic.

Everton, meanwhile, will be managed for the first time in a competitive encounter by Spaniard Roberto Martinez. The ex-Wigan boss has a reputation of setting his teams out to play open and expansive football so this promises to be an intriguing affair. As such, I’m expecting a topsy-turvy game with a point a piece.

 West Brom 0-2 Southampton

Much of West Brom’s success this season could depend on whether they can get the best out of Nicholas “more clubs than anyone can remember” Anelka. The Frenchman replaces on-loan Chelsea forward Romelu Lukaku in the Baggies’ squad and the Belgian was a key component in Steve Clarke’s impressive first season in charge.

After the shock departure of Nigel Adkins last term, Mauricio Pochettino achieved some very respectful results as Saints manager with wins over Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. Don’t ask me why – because there isn’t a great deal of logic behind this – but I can forsee a Southampton win here.

Swansea City 1-1 Manchester United

Few clubs, if any, had a more successful season than Swansea City did during Michael Laudrup’s debut tenure in charge at the Liberty Stadium. Led by the goals of an outrageously-cheap Michu, the Swans finished 9^th and picked up League Cup silverware. Dane Laudrup has since added some exciting additions to his squad with Liverpool’s Jonjo Shelvey and Vitesse Arnhem’s 31-goal striker Wifried Bony amongst the arrivals.

The fact that opening day opponents Manchester United are third favourites to retain their crown says something about the expectation under Sir Alex Ferguson replacement David Moyes. While pre-season form rarely – if ever – counts for anything, signs have been ominous for Moyes, and with no marquee signings on board, expect a tough start to the Scot’s reign. Score draw.

Crystal Palace 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur

The problem Crystal Palace face is that they are arguably weaker now than they were last season following the departure of winger Wilfried Zaha. Ian Holloway’s attack-minded approach will no doubt help the Eagles to offer plenty of problems to opposition defences over the course of the campaign but will they be able to shut out enough goals at the other end?

Whether Gareth Bale remains a Spurs player or not is still unclear (yes, I’m bored of it too). With that being said, Andre Villas-Boas’ side have more than enough existing talent to win this London clash comfortably. The record-breaking deal to see Roberto Soldado sign-on from Valencia is likely to be a very astute deal considering the distinct lack of centre-forward options the club had during 2012/13. I’m expecting a straight-forward away win here.

Chelsea 3-0 Hull City Tigers

Jose Mourinho’s eagerly-anticipated return to Stamford Bridge will commence against Hull City Tigers (sorry Hull City AFC fans) and expectations will be soaring despite the Blues’ inability to land number one target Wayne Rooney. While many have been quick to point out Chelsea’s lack of forward options, they are strengthened by the return of Lukaku who I believe could be more pivotal than people are giving him credit for.

After stumbling over the line in their promotion from the Championship, I envisage that Hull (let’s just call them that for now) will find it the most difficult of the new clubs to survive. A task made all the greater when you are depending on goals (or the lack of) from loanee Danny Graham. A home banker here, folks.

Manchester City 3-1 Newcastle United

After surrendering their title to rivals Manchester United, City have used the summer window to show that they aren’t too keen on losing out for a second successive season. Roberto Mancini has been replaced by the forward-thinking Manuel Pellegrini while Fernandinho, Alvaro Negrado, Stevan Jovetic and Jesus Navas will only reinforce an already multi-talented squad of players.

The farcical bandwagon that is Newcastle United has continued to roll on in the intervening close season and newly appointed Director of Football Joe Kinnear has even been good enough to not let his holidays get in the way of signing Loic Remy on loan from QPR. The first Monday Night Football of 2013/14 is likely to be another end-to-end affair but I can’t see anything else other than a Man City triumph.

My First Colossus Bet

So there you have it. My predictions for the seven Colossus Premier League matches. Fancy a pop at winning £10m? Have a go yourself!