Matt Turner kept another clean sheet in Arsenal’s win over Bodo/Glimt
(Picture: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)Mikel Arteta was full of praise for Matt Turner after the goalkeeper kept another clean sheet in Arsenal’s win away to Bodo/Glimt.
The American has started all three of the Gunners’ Europa League group-stage matches so far this season, playing his part in ensuring the Norwegian side were unable to score either in north London or on home soil in the Arctic Circle.
Turner only had to make one save in Arsenal’s 1-0 win, as Bukayo Saka’s fortunate strike proved to be the only goal of the game, but was quick off his line on a number of occasions to ensure balls in behind the Gunners’ defence did not materialise into anything dangerous.
It was a performance that the Arsenal boss was particularly impressed by, with Aaron Ramsdale’s comfortable position as the club’s number one putting pressure on Turner to deliver when he does get a rare opportunity in the side.
“He is improving, he’s getting better, obviously we’re asking him different things from what other managers have asked him to do,” Arteta said.
“He was much better in the first half than in the second half in my opinion. We could have had some more control.
“But I think he was phenomenal in the goal in situations especially when defending the area in behind the centre halves, and in the one-against-one situations he was really good.”
Arsenal sit top of Group A with nine points from their first three matches, and can wrap up qualification to the knockout stages when PSV Eindhoven travel to the Emirates next week.
Faced with a tough trip to Norway, a team with a superb home record and a desire to seal top spot in the group as soon as possible, Arteta named a strong lineup and he was duly rewarded as the Gunners made it six wins on the bounce in all competitions.
“We are really happy to win here against a team who have won their last 14 games [at home] in European competition in a row,” Arteta said.
“They deserve a lot of credit for that. Not many teams do that. We have come here as number 15 and won it.
“We talked about it in the last few days and that was the challenged in different conditions, in a different context, making a lot of changes find a way to win. We’ve done it.”
