Arne Slot accused Arsenal of time-wasting and admitted he was disappointed to be shown a yellow card as Liverpool twice came from behind to claim a draw.

A brilliant strike from Bukayo Saka had sent Mikel Arteta’s side racing into a lead that was cancelled out by Virgil van Dijk’s header, before Mikel Merino headed home his first goal for the club from a free-kick.

However, having suffered a double injury blow with Gabriel Magalhães and Jurriën Timber both limping off in the second half, the hosts were pegged back by Mohamed Salah’s 11th goal in 15 Premier League ­appearances against Arsenal.

Related: Mohamed Salah strikes late to deny Arsenal and rescue point for Liverpool

Slot said in the buildup to the game that “it doesn’t even come to my mind about tactical fouls or dark arts” but he admitted he had been surprised to be shown a yellow card by the ­referee, Anthony Taylor, after protesting about the number of ­stoppages ­during the game.

“There were so many times that they were on the floor, which can happen so many times in football,” he said. “I don’t blame them for that but it always happened after they had ball possession. That took the energy out of the game in my opinion. So I said to [Ibrahima Konaté]: ‘This is a fucking joke,’ and the fourth official thought I said to him: ‘You are a fucking joke.’ But that’s definitely not what I said. But I got a yellow for that and now I’m on two and I have to be careful.”

The draw leaves Slot’s side one point behind the leaders, ­Manchester City, with Arsenal, runners-up in the past two seasons, a further four points back in third. But while he refused to say whether Liverpool are title contenders this season, the Dutchman admitted that he was delighted with the way they responded to ­falling behind.

“Today we had to fight really hard to get back into the game and that shows a great mentality,” he said. “I think most Arsenal fans at half-time would have felt this will probably lead to a win for us but we can take the way we played in our second-half performance into our next games.”

Arteta refused to criticise Taylor after he failed to send off Van Dijk for appearing to kick out at Kai Havertz in the first half or for disallowing a potential late winner from the substitute Ethan Nwaneri. But he admitted his side must now play catch‑up with their rivals.

“You don’t want to be in that position. You want to be ahead. But this is where we are,” he said. “The team is alive, the team wants it. I feel it every single day. The players that cannot play there are upset, the ones getting injured, the players that are there they are in a good moment. Things will turn around and we’ll be in a better place. But we are certainly there.”