Obafemi Martins has pledged his commitment to Newcastle United.

The Nigeria striker has been linked with tonight's opponents Arsenal, but told the Evening Chronicle: "Making the change from the Serie A to the Premier League was not a problem.

"The problem in Italy is the fact teams love to play tactical game plans a lot. It is all about tactics, but that is how they like it. They like to play the ball into the goal with the final touch and score the perfect goal, but in England the game is totally different.

"You have to run for 95 minutes. It is all about speed and workrate and giving maximum effort. I am happy with that because it suits my style, but the game is very, very fast compared to Italy."

With Martins now clearly the fans' favourite in a struggling team, the player - who insists he is not on any personal crusade for glory - added: "I have never been happier in my career.

"Glenn Roeder liked me as a player and signed me for Newcastle. I thank him for that and I tried my best for him.

"Sam came in and he is a different manager and has different ideas.

"However, I am happy to play here and to work hard for him."