Bolton Wanderers’ Fabrice Muamba was in a stable but critical condition on Monday, two days after he suddenly collapsed during a match, a statement from the hospital treating him said.

Muamba, 23, slumped onto the turf towards the end of the first half of an FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane ground on Saturday after suffering a cardiac arrest.

A statement issued on behalf of Bolton and the London Chest Hospital said: “Fabrice Muamba’s heart condition is stable, but he remains critically ill in intensive care at The London Chest Hospital.

“The family is grateful to the media for continuing to respect their privacy at this time.”

On Sunday night, the hospital had said Muamba was in a “critical condition”.

Millions of TV viewers saw Muamba lying on the pitch where medical staff attempted to resuscitate him as players in tears looked on.

Muamba’s plight sparked a wave of concern from fellow Premier League players and football fans worldwide.

His fiancee, Shauna Muamba, and mother to their three-year-old son Joshua, told fans on Twitter: “God is in control. Please keep afmuamba in ur prayers xx”

She later added: “Please keep praying for afmuamba its really helping I can feel it xx”.

Another post said: “For all your messages of love thank u so much. Where there is life there is hope xx”.

Muamba was born in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo but came to England aged 11 to join up with his father, who had fled the country.

Meanwhile a cardiologist says he will test the Tottenham squad for potential heart defects on Monday at the request of the players who saw Muamba’s cardiac arrest.

“These cardiac arrests in young people are very rare, they affect about one in 50,000 people,” Sports cardiologist Sanjay Sharma told Sky News television. “These conditions are exceptionally rare.”

Sharma said he was already due to test “one or two players” at Tottenham on Monday, but added that now “the players have all demanded cardiac screening today.”

“That involves taking a history relating to cardiac symptoms, which include chest pain during exertion or breath which is disproportionate to the amount of exercise being performed and blackouts, (and) asking about a family history because many of these conditions that can cause cardiac arrest are hereditary,” he said.

“We then perform a cardiac examination and following that we do an ECG (electrocardiogram) which is an electrical tracing of the heart which looks for electric faults of the heart and a cardiac ultrasound which looks at heart muscle problems or problems with the heart values.”