Matt Turner came back to the Emirates Stadium, but Arsenal wasn’t in the mood to treat him all that kindly.
Just three days ago, the U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper completed a $12.7 million move from north London to Nottingham Forest in pursuit of playing time, only to find himself facing his old club immediately.
Forest’s first match of the Premier League season, a trip to Arsenal, was not a favorable one for a team that only just barely avoided relegation last season. In that context, a 2-1 away defeat really isn’t all that bad.
However, for Turner — plugged immediately into the lineup by manager Steve Cooper — it would have been some kind of dream to walk back into his old digs and put one over on a club that never gave him a shot in Premier League play.
That wasn’t meant to be, with Arsenal scoring one goal through some good fortune, and the other through unstoppable skill. In other words, a goalkeeper’s nightmare.
First, the luck. Gabriel Martinelli’s spinning pass was a piece of genius, and Eddie Nketiah’s cut inside was incisive. What followed, though, was cruel for Turner: Nketiah’s shot towards the far post — where Turner was just starting to dive — glanced off of Joe Worrall and skewed instead back where the USMNT No. 1 had come from.
BRILLIANT skill from Gabriel Martinelli to set up Eddie Nketiah’s goal!
Goals like that are torture for goalkeepers, but maybe Turner will think a bit less about what was to follow. It’s one thing to have a shot deflect just barely out of your reach, and another to see Bukayo Saka score a world-class curler from 20-plus yards. There’s just not much Turner or anyone else could do on a shot like this one.
It wasn’t all bad for Turner, who did well to deny Declan Rice three different times. The second was particularly tricky, as Rice’s low shot got through traffic and clipped Worrall, but the former Arsenal ‘keeper still managed to tip it wide.
Turner made five saves in all, and will likely enjoy a few days to get settled into life in Nottingham before focusing on Forest’s next match. In its own way, it’s a big one: home against Sheffield United in what looks like a clash between two teams who will need every point they can get to stay up.
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