Manchester United had statisticians searching through the record books after they suffered at the hands of Everton on Sunday.
The 4-0 reverse at Goodison Park means the Red Devils have now lost five consecutive away games in all competitions, their worst run of defeats since March 1981.
United last conceded four without reply against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in October 2016, when former Blues boss Jose Mourinho was still in charge.
They have only twice been on the wrong end of 5-0 results in the Premier League era, against Newcastle United in October 1996 and then to Chelsea three years later, while their heaviest loss in terms of goals conceded was the 6-1 derby defeat to Manchester City in October 2011.
1981 Manchester United have lost five successive away games in all competitions for the first time since March 1981 under Dave Sexton. Personality.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
This season s squad have conceded 48 league goals, already the club s highest single-season tally in the competition and their most in a league campaign since 1978-79 (63).
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer s side have also gone 11 consecutive matches without a clean sheet in all competitions, an unwanted feat they last achieved in December 1998.
Solskjaer has called for United to start matching teams for effort since initially taking over in December, so he will not be happy to see that his players ran 8.03 kilometres less than Everton, the biggest negative difference for the Red Devils in a Premier League game since their 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham in August 2018 (10.2km less). Interestingly, they have now run less than their opponents in 15 of 17 league matches under the Norwegian.
And it could still get even worse yet they still have four games to go in the league, starting with Wednesday s clash with neighbours City at Old Trafford.
8 David de Gea has now conceded eight goals from outside the box in the Premier League this season; the only PL season that he s conceded more from long range was 2013-14 (9). Myopic.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
