diff --git a/CHANGES/2988.feature b/CHANGES/2988.feature
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f9b76fd6ced
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGES/2988.feature
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Allow `GunicornWebWorker` subclasses to configure its `ApplicationRunner` by introducing the
+`GunicornWebWorker._get_application_runner_instance` method.
diff --git a/aiohttp/worker.py b/aiohttp/worker.py
index 73ba6e38f69..07e3d8347a4 100644
--- a/aiohttp/worker.py
+++ b/aiohttp/worker.py
@@ -73,13 +73,7 @@ async def _run(self) -> None:
             raise RuntimeError("wsgi app should be either Application or "
                                "async function returning Application, got {}"
                                .format(self.wsgi))
-        access_log = self.log.access_log if self.cfg.accesslog else None
-        runner = web.AppRunner(app,
-                               logger=self.log,
-                               keepalive_timeout=self.cfg.keepalive,
-                               access_log=access_log,
-                               access_log_format=self._get_valid_log_format(
-                                   self.cfg.access_log_format))
+        runner = self._get_application_runner_instance(app)
         await runner.setup()
 
         ctx = self._create_ssl_context(self.cfg) if self.cfg.is_ssl else None
@@ -207,6 +201,17 @@ def _get_valid_log_format(self, source_format: str) -> str:
         else:
             return source_format
 
+    def _get_application_runner_instance(self, app, **kwargs):
+        access_log = self.log.access_log if self.cfg.accesslog else None
+        runner = web.AppRunner(app,
+                               logger=self.log,
+                               keepalive_timeout=self.cfg.keepalive,
+                               access_log=access_log,
+                               access_log_format=self._get_valid_log_format(
+                                   self.cfg.access_log_format),
+                               **kwargs)
+        return runner
+
 
 class GunicornUVLoopWebWorker(GunicornWebWorker):