Norwich City defender Turner is ready for the big kick-off
Defender Michael Turner insists he will be match fit and ready for the big Premier League kick-off when Norwich City head for Fulham in 10 days' time.
The new signing from Sunderland played an hour of last night's goalless draw against Hull City at the KC Stadium – the Canaries' penultimate pre-season friendly under new manager Chris Hughton – to follow his 65 minutes against MK Dons last Friday on his first appearance in club colours.
The 28-year-old centre-half was back on familiar territory as a former Hull player, and was well satisfied to help his new club to their fourth clean sheet in five domestic warm-up games.
As City prepare for their last friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach at Carrow Road on Saturday, Turner said: 'I've played 60 to 65 minutes in both games so far and I felt stronger in the second half tonight than I did the other night.
'It's all minutes under my belt and I hope I'll get some more on Saturday and be ready for the first game.'
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Turner took time to recover from a pre-season trip to the Far East with Sunderland, followed by another hectic few days with the move to Norwich at the end of last month.
'I'm not far away now in terms of fitness. It did take it out of me going to Korea and then coming back and coming straight to Norwich, and taking a few days for the deal to be done, so I'm pleased now I'm back in training and getting games and back on it,' he said.
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'It's the best way to get your fitness up, playing games of football, being out there on the pitch.
'I was feeling stronger and stronger as the game went on.'
Another goalless draw means City have not scored for 263 minutes in their warm-up games, but at least they have been hard to break down at the other end of the field.
'I think as a team, the way we defended tonight was very solid,' he said. 'It's where you start from because if you're keeping clean sheets you know you're going to get something from a game.
'We'll need to take the good work we've been doing and take it into the league campaign when it kicks off next week.
'We limited them to very few chances and on the offensive side, we created a few chances and got in a few good positions. Probably one final ball would have given us goalscoring opportunities, but I think generally we're pleased with the shape of the team.'
