Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann has suggested that the team can kickstart their season with a victory over Bournemouth in the League Cup.

The Reds face the Championship leaders at Dean Court tonight with a place in the semi-finals awaiting the winner.

Brendan Rodgers's side have struggled both domestically and in Europe since the summer, but Hamann believes that beating in-form Bournemouth could see them push on during the New Year.

"In a season, sometimes you just need one result and one spark from somewhere then all of a sudden the whole complex of the season and team changes," the German told the club's official website.

"It doesn't matter where you are in the league and what's happening - if you are in the last eight of a cup competition, it's always a big game because this club is about winning trophies.

"You have to be in the Champions League but you need to win a trophy every now and then. As a club, a team and players, you learn an awful lot about yourself and your teammates when you play in a quarter-final, semi-final or, hopefully in this case, a final."

Liverpool head to Bournemouth on the back of a 3-0 defeat away to rivals Manchester United in the Premier League.