Liverpool head coach Arne Slot accused Arsenal of time-wasting in a foul-mouthed F-word rant during Sunday's draw at the Emirates.
Slot was booked by referee Anthony Taylor for appearing to explicitly complain about one of the official’s decisions.
But speaking after the game Slot said he was not swearing at the officials, insisting: 'Last time I said I completely deserved a yellow card.
‘This time, I don’t think I did. I said after so many times they were on the floor, which can happen in football — I don’t blame them for that — but they always fell down after they had ball possession.
He claims he said that Arsenal going down was a 'f***ing joke,' but that fourth official Sam Barrott thought he had directed the comment at him
‘That took the energy out of the game in my opinion. I said to Ibou [Ibrahima Konate]: “This is a f*****g joke”.
‘The fourth official thought I said to him: “You are a f***ing joke”. So that is definitely not what I said. But I got a yellow for that so now I am on two. I have to be careful now.’
Meanwhile, Slot praised his side’s mentality for refusing to throw in the towel at the Emirates.
Virgil van Dijk initially levelled after Bukayo Saka fired Arsenal ahead before Salah’s late effort cancelled out Mikel Merino’s first goal for the club.
‘Today we had to fight really hard to fight our way back into the game,’ added Slot.
‘That shows a great mentality because most Arsenal fans at half-time would have thought “this will probably lead to a win for us”.
‘But if you saw our second half mentality then we will take all these things with us.’
Asked whether his team are genuine title contenders, the Dutchman added: ‘The only thing I look at is can you get a result in a difficult away game as this one? The way we did it pleased me a lot and we're only nine or 10 games into the season, but to see we can compete with such a strong Arsenal team, in their stadium, that is very pleasing to see.
‘But where it exactly will lead towards the end of the season? I cannot tell you yet.’