Steven Gerrard claimed that turmoil off the field at Liverpool has begun to take its toll on the team after a 2-2 draw at home to Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League last night. The sense of upheaval at Anfield is likely to continue after another turbulent day that ended with renewed doubts over the troubled regime of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the American owners.

Liverpool had seemed likely to make light of their problems after Yossi Benayoun gave them an early lead against Villa, but an overhead kick from Marlon Harewood and an own goal from Fábio Aurélio in the space of three second-half minutes gave the visiting team a 2-1 lead. Peter Crouch, the substitute, equalised for Liverpool with two minutes remaining, but the draw leaves them fifth in the league table, two points adrift of Everton, in fourth place, and 14 points behind Manchester United and Arsenal, the joint leaders.

With Liverpool in an unprecedented state of uncertainty — with question marks not only over the future of Rafael Benítez, the manager, but also over Hicks and Gillett and their chaotic bid to move to a new stadium in Stanley Park — Gerrard, the captain, suggested that he and his team-mates felt drained by events off the field.

That sense of weariness will deepen with news today that Hicks and Gillett are struggling to proceed with their £350 million refinancing plan after a harrowing day on the world financial markets, even if many supporters are likely to welcome such a turn of events as they pray that the Americans will be bought out by Dubai International Capital (DIC), the private equity investment arm of the Arab state.

“It’s not just this week it has been going on,” Gerrard said afterwards. “It’s not helping the players. I’ve got to be careful about what I say about the situation, but we know what’s going on as players. We’ve got a job to do on the pitch and you try to put it to the back of your mind, but it’s impossible to ignore it when it’s every day.”

Benítez was less willing to use the uncertainty, not least over his own position, as an excuse for a downturn in Liverpool’s form in the Premier League. “I can understand if players are saying whether it’s affecting them or not,” the manager said. “For me it would be easy [to say that it is], but I prefer not to use that explanation. If we had scored the second goal [when 1-0 up], we’d be talking about a great game but, because we didn’t, we’re asking: ‘Does it affect the players?’ ”

Benítez has more reason than most to hope for a second takeover in 12 months, given that his position appears untenable if Hicks and Gillett stay at Anfield, but, after four consecutive draws in the Premier League, there is no guarantee that he will be retained even if the Americans are bought out by DIC.

Last night, there were fresh indications that Hicks and Gillett will be forced to sell, with serious uncertainty over whether they can proceed with their refinancing plan. After an arduous day for the world financial markets, with trading on Wall Street to resume today after a public holiday in the United States, there are even greater doubts about the feasibility of that plan, with Gillett understood to be increasingly keen either to sell up or to join forces with DIC, who would then bid for Hicks’s 50 per cent stake.

Hicks hoped to proceed today with the refinancing plan that would load the Americans’ debts on to the club and stabilise their position at Liverpool, at least in the short term, but that deal, agreed in principle with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia last month, is far from certain to be signed. Although the RBS remains convinced that it will — albeit not today as originally thought — sources in the City believe that the Americans’ regime is crumbling by the day. DIC has had an initial proposal of a £300 million offer rejected out of hand by Hicks, but they believe that the climate will change if the Americans fail to secure their refinancing package in the next week or two.

A takeover by DIC is certainly regarded as the most favourable outcome by many Liverpool supporters, with angry demonstrations at Anfield last night pleading for Hicks and Gillett to “get out of our club”.

“The fans want them [Hicks and Gillett] out, unconditionally,” Kevin Sampson, of the Reclaim The Kop campaign, said.