Having been selected for all three of the Gunners’ Europa League matches this season, the USA international is nailed on to face PSV Eindhoven tonight in what is likely to be his biggest test of the season so far.
Having spoken frankly on his arrival about the need to improve certain areas of his game – particularly his distribution with his feet – Turner is gradually growing in confidence.
Indeed, following last week’s clean sheet at Bodo / Glimt, manager Mikel Arteta labelled the keeper’s performance “phenomenal”.
While the praise was music to Turner’s ears but he recognises he still has a long way to go.
“It felt good, but it’s what, one game? For me, it’s about how can I take that to the next level. My goal is to take this to the highest level possible. Good performances are good, you tick the box, and then you keep going.
“Working under him [Arteta] has been fantastic. He’s somebody that challenges me. He figured out what makes me tick early on, I think because I’m super competitive.
“Sometimes the way we train can come with a bit of failure as a goalkeeper because you’re asked to take more risks than I have done traditionally in the past. It was challenging for me to adapt to that, but he always picked me up and told me to keep my head up even if I was frustrated with something don’t show it because in football and in life, there’s loads of failures.
“It’s really about how you react to them and how you pick yourself back up. He helped me ground myself into the team and then start to show my personality and get to know the guys, and now I feel like someone the guys can trust on the field and off it.”
He added: “The expectation is pretty clear for the model that we want to play, and that’s something that took a learning curve when I first got here. But I think I’ve done better. I think what’s been the M.O. of my whole career is that I have a tremendous capacity to learn.
“I’m not the same goalkeeper as six months ago, 12 months ago, or 18 months ago. I’m always learning, I’m always growing, and I’m trying to adapt to the demands of the modern game like most people my age, for whom things started changing for goalkeepers when we were around 22, 23 or 24.
“You’ve got to adapt, and you’ve got to be able to learn new tricks. I don’t think I’d be here if I wasn’t able to learn.”
Tonight, Turner will come up against a side in free-scoring form. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s PSV have scored 17 goals in their last four matches and arrive at the Emirates focused on producing an upset that would see them overtake the Gunners at the top of the group.
Turner’s assessment suggests Mikel Arteta’s players know they are in for a difficult match.
“They are obviously a very high-powered squad and have scored a lot of goals. They’re always challenging for the title in their domestic league, and they’ve done well so far in the Europa League.
“We’re the top two teams in the group, and we know that they have a lot of individual quality. A couple of dangerous players up top, their left winger (Cody Gakpo) has, I think 10 goals and 13 assists, and you don’t just turn your nose away from that. It’s stuff you have to consider.
“It’s going to be a very physical game from a very good team, and we expect that, but we want to take all three points.”
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