CHERRIES skipper and Liverpool fan Tommy Elphick believes the Reds will be desperate to progress in the League Cup following a disappointing start to the 2014-15 campaign.

The Anfield side were dumped out of the Champions League in the group stages and are currently ninth in the Premier League.

But ahead of the quarter-final showdown at Dean Court on Wednesday (7.45pm), Elphick insisted Brendan Rodgers’s men would be in hungry mood.

He told the Daily Echo: “With Liverpool out of the Champions League and not where they want to be in the Premier League, they will be all guns blazing and wanting to get a trophy in the cabinet.

“Liverpool aren’t on a great run at the moment and probably aren’t meeting expectations.

“If I was in that camp having been knocked out of the Champions League and where they are in the league, I’d want to win a trophy.

“They will think that it’s a winnable game and that they can get into the semi-final of a major competition.

“We’ve got to concentrate on ourselves and see it as a good opportunity to test ourselves against one of the elite teams. There is no reason why we can’t get into the semi-final.”

Elphick is one of three Liverpool fans in the Cherries squad – with fellow centre-back Steve Cook and midfielder Eunan O’Kane also followers of the Reds.

The captain said: “There’s a few of us that follow Liverpool but when you cross the white line, everything changes.

“Being a Liverpool fan goes back to when I was a kid but things change when you become a player. You look out for your own club and things get put on the back burner.”

Elphick added: “The way the club has been since I’ve been here is that it has always progressed, set new targets and created history.

“Bournemouth has a lot of scope to improve for many years to come. This is a massive opportunity to get to the semi-final and even the final, so we’ve got to grasp it.

“The quarter-final is a huge game for the club. We have to treasure these moments and enjoy them.”