BOSS Eddie Howe believes Liverpool’s plight could make tomorrow’s eagerly-awaited League Cup quarter-final even more of a challenge for Cherries.

Howe’s men host the Reds on the back of their early exit from the Champions League and with them losing touch with the leaders in the Premier League.

Asked at today’s pre-match press conference whether he felt Cherries were favourites, Howe replied: “For me, we are big underdogs.

"Whenever you are Bournemouth and you play Liverpool, that is how it will be. I think a lot of over-reaction has occurred to Liverpool’s recent form.

“They are a top-quality side, very well managed and coached and with some outstanding players. For us to have any chance, we are going to have to be at our very, very best and have a lot of luck as well.”

Asked whether he felt Cherries had progressed since meeting Liverpool in last season’s FA Cup, Howe said: “I’d like to think so. I think the proof will be when we play them. I’d say we are a better side now than we were then.

“I think we have progressed with 11 months’ work and the players have improved so looking at that side of it, I would say yes.

“If we can produce a similar performance to the one we produced that day, I would be well pleased because I thought we were excellent and, on another day, if we had got the first goal, it could have been slightly different. But we don’t underestimate our task in any way.”

And asked how important the League Cup was to him, Howe replied: “It has been important all season. We have had quite a tough few games in the completion and managed to come through.

“We have made a lot of changes to our teams in those games and the guys who have come in have performed well and it has really helped our league form.

"It has given us the confidence and the knowledge that we have a very strong squad underneath the team that has been playing.

“We would love to give a really good account of ourselves live on television to let the country know we can pass the ball and play good football.”

Fielding a question about Liverpool’s current position, Howe said: “I am not inside the Liverpool camp and it is very difficult to have an opinion on the team you are playing against. All I would say is I think they’ve got outstanding players and an outstanding manager.

“I thought they played very well against Manchester United and sometimes the result can influence peoples’ perceptions on performances. They created numerous opportunities at Old Trafford and I’m sure they will come into this game confident because of that.

“I think the whole reaction to Liverpool’s form makes this game harder for us in a sense that peoples’ expectations of us have risen and I think it is my job to bring some perspective to that.”

Asked whether Cherries were ahead of where he had hoped they would be when he returned to the club in October 2012, Howe replied: “We never imagined we would get promotion in our first year so we didn’t imagine, in the second year, we would be in the Championship. And certainly, in the third year, we didn’t imagine we would be in the position we are in at the moment.

“We are a long way ahead and the progress has been so quick but I think the important thing is that the expectations don’t run away with themselves and suddenly we believe we are better than we are.

“We are still having to prove people wrong every game we play and will have to continue to do that. We’ve achieved nothing and we’ve won nothing. We’re enjoying it but we have to stay focused on what we are doing.”

Asked by the Daily Echo whether he would trade promotion for winning the League Cup, Howe replied: “It’s a huge domestic cup competition and you would love to win it and you would love to, ultimately, get promotion as well.

"I always think your league form is most important and I think you are judged more on your league form than you are on any cup competition so that would probably lead my answer.”