Arsenal players hold up a Pablo Mari shirt after opening goal against Nottingham Forest

Arsenal players showed their support for defender Pablo Mari by holding up a shirt with his name and number after Gabriel Martinelli's opener against Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Mari, who is currently on loan at Monza from Arsenal, was walking around a Milan supermarket with his wife and son when he was stabbed in the back.

Mari was one of six people who were attacked on Thursday.

A day after the attack, the 29-year-old wrote on Instagram: “After the hard moment we experienced yesterday, both my family and I want to communicate that fortunately we are all fine despite the circumstances, and we want to thank all the messages of support and affection that we are receiving.

“In addition, we want to send our condolences and all our strength to the family and friends of the deceased person, and we sincerely wish that all injured people recover as soon as possible.”

Arsenal hosted newly-promoted Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon and as a show of support, the entire squad posed for a picture with Mari's shirt ahead of kick-off.

In fact, minutes later, in-form forward Gabriel Martinelli celebrated his opener in the fifth minute by holding up a shirt with Mari's name and number emblazoned on the back.

The likes of Granit Xhaka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus joined the Brazilian shortly after – a great gesture from Mikel Arteta's side, who will go top of the Premier League with a win.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta spoke about the incident involving Mari after the club's 2-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League.

"I just found out," he said. "I know Edu has been in touch with his relatives. He's in hospital but he seems to be okay."

Monza CEO Adriano Galliani added: "Pablo Mari has quite a deep cut to his back, but fortunately it did not reach any vital organs like the lungs or anything else.

"His life is not in danger, he should recover quickly. He has some lesions, but not very serious. He is conscious and getting stitches."

Speaking to Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport, Mari himself recalled: "I was with the baby stroller when I felt unbearable pain in my back. I was lucky because I saw a person die in front of me after being stabbed in the throat. I'm fine, on Monday I'll be playing."