Arsenal 2-2 Liverpool: 'Definitely not what I said!' – Arne Slot explains yellow card mix-up after F-bomb backfires

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Arne Slot had an eventful outing in the capital on Sunday, as Mohamed Salah rescued a point for Liverpool to hold Arsenal to a 2-2 draw. The Dutch manager was shown a yellow card in the 75th minute, but Slot contends that his expletive-related comment was directed at his centre-half, rather than the fourth official. Slot also brushed off claims Liverpool have had an easy start to the season.

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Arne Slot revealed he received a yellow card in Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal due to an expletive-related misunderstanding.

Mohamed Salah struck a late equaliser for the visitors, the second time they had come from behind in the match after Virgil van Dijk had cancelled out Bukayo Saka’s early opener.

But with the scoreline 2-1 heading into the final 15 minutes at the Emirates, Slot was cautioned for supposedly swearing at fourth official Sam Barrott, though the Dutchman insisted his comment was directed towards Reds centre-half Ibrahima Konate.

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“Last time I said I completely deserve the yellow card, but this time I don’t think I did. So many times they [Arsenal players] were on the floor, which can happen in football... I don’t blame them for that,” explained Slot in his post-match press conference.

"But they always fell down after they had ball possession and that took the energy out of the game, in my opinion.

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“I said to Ibou [Konate], 'This is a f****** joke', but the fourth official thought I said to him, ‘You are a f****** joke’.

“That’s definitely not what I said! But I got a yellow for that, so now I’m on two [yellows] and I have to be careful.”

If a manager picks up four yellow cards over a season, they receive an automatic one-match ban.

Liverpool dropped points for just the second time in the Premier League this season on Sunday, ending a run of eight consecutive wins in all competitions.

But from their nine league fixtures, only four have come against top-half opposition: Brentford, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, and now Arsenal.

Slot brushed off claims that Liverpool have had an easy start, especially given the quality of teams up and down the English top-flight.

"What surprises me is that people are saying we had an easy start, because everyone that has worked in the Premier League or is still working here were telling me before I came here that there are no easy games in the Premier League,” Slot told Sky Sports.

"Now all of a sudden there are many easy games. Seriously, I agree with what the people say, we have faced more than a few teams who are bottom half of the table.

"We also faced Manchester United and Chelsea, two top clubs, and today Arsenal, the third one.

"So, it is good to see where we are in this moment in time, not only in terms of results but in how we play."

And while the timing of Mikel Merino's header on the stroke of half-time was far from ideal from Slot's perspective, the former Feyenoord boss thought his side deserved a point.

"We were not happy to concede just before half-time," said Slot. "But I think if you look at the first half, they maybe deserve to be a goal up.

"It is a good thing that if you play against Arsenal, usually you lose the battle of the set-pieces and today we did not lose that one.

"We both scored one, and, like I said, I think the first half was theirs. In the second half, I was not completely surprised that we scored a goal to equalise, let's put it that way."

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