Liverpool missed the opportunity to go seven points clear against Leicester City on Wednesday night.

With Manchester City losing to Newcastle United the night before, the Reds smelt blood and entered their next game with a perfect record against teams outside the top six.

However, a plucky performance from the visitors ensured that Liverpool had to settle for a draw, extending their lead at the top of the Premier League but not by the desired margin.

Sadio Mane had fired the Reds into an early lead, finding the bottom corner past Kasper Schmeichel's reach.

But just before half-time and there was a response from the Foxes, Harry Maguire scoring the second and final goal of the game from close range.

Liverpool 1-1 Leicester

Jurgen Klopp watched in frustration as his team failed to find a winner during the second-half and he believes the inclement weather had an impact on the performance.

He explained: "The pitch was difficult and we needed to speed it up in the final third. Our counter-attacks in the opening moments were defended more by the pitch than our opponents!"

There was a layer of snow on the Anfield pitch that did change the trajectory of the ball, but football fans have plenty of reason for thinking that Klopp shouldn't complain.

Fans react to Liverpool ground staff

That's because BT Sport's coverage of the match seems to have sparked a conspiracy theory about Liverpool's tactics during half-time.

Journalists such as Ian Doyle have confirmed that the club's ground staff decided to clear the penalty area Liverpool were due to attack, but not at the opposite end of the pitch, which Leicester would challenge.

It seems a very deliberate thing to do and especially when you consider the untreated penalty area in front of the Anfield Road Stand was actually covered in more snow.

As a result, it sparked plenty of reaction across Twitter and very few believe it was an accident:

The moral of the story? It seems Liverpool staff wanted to ensure that their attackers kept their footing, whilst allowing the Leicester forwards to slide across the turf.

That's certainly the opinion of rival fans in particular and it wouldn't be the first time that Premier League teams have called upon their ground staff for help.

In fact, Liverpool were on the receiving end of a similar move during their 2-1 win over Tottenham back in September.

Jamie Carragher noticed the home side were trying to give themselves a half-time advantage, tweeting: "Spurs just watering the pitch in their attacking half?!! #SpursVLiverpool."

Regardless of the Liverpool staff's true intentions, though, it didn't benefit the Reds in the end and Leicester held on for a point on Merseyside.

Fans won't know until May whether Liverpool slipped up in the snow or not.

Do you think the Liverpool ground staff were being tactical? Have your say in the comments section below.

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