In netting against the Canaries, Ighalo became only the second player in the club’s history to have scored in each of his first four competitive starts for the Red Devils.
According to Opta, the previous player to do this was Jimmy Hanson, who achieved the feat in 1925 when he scored in consecutive starts against Hull City, Blackpool, Derby County and Aston Villa.
The Manchester-born Hanson signed for United in 1924, but suffered a serious injury five years later, and was forced to retire.
Back in 2016, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was on the brink of equalling Hanson’s record when he scored in three consecutive competitive outings for United. However, while the then-34-year-old made a strong start to life with the Red Devils after signing on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, he drew a blank in his fourth competitive start—against Hull—and missed out on Hanson’s record.
Ighalo, however, has emulated Hanson’s achievement during a remarkable run early in his United career.
The former Watford man began his scoring run with a goal in United’s 5-0 victory over Club Brugge in late February, before scoring twice against Derby County in the FA Cup in early March.
On his third start for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, against LASK in the Europa League, he scored and contributed an assist in a 5-0 victory, before opening the scoring against Norwich on Saturday.