Chris Smalling's remarkable record

The centre-back sparked the comeback at Crystal Palace, volleyed in the memorable winner in the Manchester derby and then converted Jesse Lingard's cross at the Vitality Stadium to make it a hat-trick of goals on the road.

Interestingly, he told United Review at the turn of the year that his friends had been telling him he gets at least one good chance a game and it was one of his chief aims to score more often in 2018.

Smalling is not the first Reds defender to achieve such a feat, as John O'Shea did so towards the end of the title-winning campaign in 2006/07. The Republic of Ireland international bagged the unforgettable late winner at Liverpool, claimed a consolation effort at Portsmouth and was one of the scorers in the 4-2 triumph at Everton. However, his substitute appearance at Anfield was largely in a defensive midfield role after replacing Wayne Rooney, even if he was right-back in the other two fixtures.

In the Premier League era, many other players have also scored in three successive away games, including Lingard this season and star strikers such as Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie and Dwight Yorke.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic managed to get on the scoresheet in five consecutive games on the road, a feat matched by Johnny Morris, while Liam Whelan had a seven-match streak in 1956 while numerous others warrant a mention, including some of the greatest marksmen in the club's history.

Enoch West, Stan Pearson, George Best, Jackie Blanchflower, Sir Bobby Charlton, John Connelly, Denis Law, Sammy McIlroy, Mark Hughes, Brian McClair, Norman Whiteside and others all managed to score in at least three top-flight away games on the trot.

But the only other defender to match up to Smalling is O'Shea - even Steve Bruce, a regular scorer from the back, failed to achieve a three-game burst away from Old Trafford.