Turner reflects on making his Emirates bow

Matt Turner earned his first start at Emirates Stadium in our 3-0 win over Bodo/Glimt on Thursday evening.

Following his second competitive start for us between the posts, Turner spoke about his lifelong dream of playing European football on a night to remember as a boyhood Gooner.

"It was a really, really special night for me," he said. "Obviously watching from afar, games in Europe just look like beautiful theatre. To be able to put my feet on the grass tonight, play, and keep a clean sheet – it was just a really special night for myself and for my family, but more importantly, for the team to get a win."

"I think overall, you gotta be happy with the clean sheet. A couple of plays in good moments that I made, but also definitely room for improvement in a lot of areas. So I'll look at the film and just continue to try to get better and better. And at the end of the day, the most important thing is, for me, the team winning, and I'll do whatever I can to help make that happen."

Our American shot-stopper made a key save after the break, as the Norwegian visitors enjoyed a rare spell of possession in our half. Diving low to his right, Turner denied Amahl Pellegrino's driven shot just outside the six-yard-box. 

"That's a big moment as a goalkeeper, especially with 56 minutes of not really doing much. And then to make a save, clear the ball, and then we sort of turn them and start building our pressure up again. It's good when a team gives you a warning sign that they're really coming forward, to be able to stand up to the task. It gives your team some confidence in you back there and they know that things are taken care of, so then we can start building that confidence back up within the match.

"So it was a big save in an important moment, but again, still other areas where I feel like I could do better," he added.

Turner was also full of praise for the goalkeepers' union between himself, Aaron Ramsdale, and Karl Hein, who has recently been called up to the first team from our academy. 

"Obviously, I want to be on the pitch and I want to be playing games as much as possible. At the same time, whenever Aaron's playing, I'm supporting him, making sure that he's getting better, and I think that he and I have a really, really great relationship, as well with the young guy Karl.

"We all really work hard together. We push each other and we also have a great respect for one another. So whoever's out there, the night of the match, you know, we want the best for them. So for me, I want to play as much as possible, but I'll do whatever role to the best of my ability."