diff --git a/components/selectors/matching.rs b/components/selectors/matching.rs
index d8d4ad59946..f55833f7fb6 100644
--- a/components/selectors/matching.rs
+++ b/components/selectors/matching.rs
@@ -322,14 +322,13 @@ where
             },
         }
 
-        // The only other parser-allowed Component in this sequence is a state
-        // class. We just don't match in that case.
-        if let Some(s) = iter.next() {
-            debug_assert!(
-                matches!(*s, Component::NonTSPseudoClass(..)),
-                "Someone messed up pseudo-element parsing"
-            );
-            return false;
+        for component in &mut iter {
+            // The only other parser-allowed Components in this sequence are
+            // state pseudo-classes, or one of the other things that can contain
+            // them.
+            if !component.matches_for_stateless_pseudo_element() {
+                return false;
+            }
         }
 
         // Advance to the non-pseudo-element part of the selector.
diff --git a/components/selectors/parser.rs b/components/selectors/parser.rs
index 74f4a48de04..e2ad8e30caf 100644
--- a/components/selectors/parser.rs
+++ b/components/selectors/parser.rs
@@ -1054,6 +1054,47 @@ impl<Impl: SelectorImpl> Component<Impl> {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Whether this component is valid after a pseudo-element. Only intended
+    /// for sanity-checking.
+    pub fn maybe_allowed_after_pseudo_element(&self) -> bool {
+        match *self {
+            Component::NonTSPseudoClass(..) => true,
+            Component::Negation(ref components) => components.iter().all(|c| c.maybe_allowed_after_pseudo_element()),
+            Component::Is(ref selectors) |
+            Component::Where(ref selectors) => {
+                selectors.iter().all(|selector| {
+                    selector.iter_raw_match_order().all(|c| c.maybe_allowed_after_pseudo_element())
+                })
+            },
+            _ => false,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Whether a given selector should match for stateless pseudo-elements.
+    ///
+    /// This is a bit subtle: Only selectors that return true in
+    /// `maybe_allowed_after_pseudo_element` should end up here, and
+    /// `NonTSPseudoClass` never matches (as it is a stateless pseudo after
+    /// all).
+    pub(crate) fn matches_for_stateless_pseudo_element(&self) -> bool {
+        debug_assert!(
+            self.maybe_allowed_after_pseudo_element(),
+            "Someone messed up pseudo-element parsing: {:?}",
+            *self
+        );
+        match *self {
+            Component::Negation(ref components) => {
+                !components.iter().all(|c| c.matches_for_stateless_pseudo_element())
+            },
+            Component::Is(ref selectors) | Component::Where(ref selectors) => {
+                selectors.iter().any(|selector| {
+                    selector.iter_raw_match_order().all(|c| c.matches_for_stateless_pseudo_element())
+                })
+            },
+            _ => false,
+        }
+    }
+
     pub fn visit<V>(&self, visitor: &mut V) -> bool
     where
         V: SelectorVisitor<Impl = Impl>,
diff --git a/components/style/invalidation/element/invalidator.rs b/components/style/invalidation/element/invalidator.rs
index 4f5d005c120..8b387bc0c04 100644
--- a/components/style/invalidation/element/invalidator.rs
+++ b/components/style/invalidation/element/invalidator.rs
@@ -871,23 +871,29 @@ where
             // This will usually be the very next component, except for
             // the fact that we store compound selectors the other way
             // around, so there could also be state pseudo-classes.
-            let pseudo_selector = next_invalidation
+            let pseudo = next_invalidation
                 .dependency
                 .selector
                 .iter_raw_parse_order_from(next_invalidation.offset)
-                .skip_while(|c| matches!(**c, Component::NonTSPseudoClass(..)))
+                .flat_map(|c| {
+                    if let Component::PseudoElement(ref pseudo) = *c {
+                        return Some(pseudo);
+                    }
+
+                    // TODO: Would be nice to make this a diagnostic_assert! of
+                    // sorts.
+                    debug_assert!(
+                        c.maybe_allowed_after_pseudo_element(),
+                        "Someone seriously messed up selector parsing: \
+                         {:?} at offset {:?}: {:?}",
+                        next_invalidation.dependency, next_invalidation.offset, c,
+                    );
+
+                    None
+                })
                 .next()
                 .unwrap();
 
-            let pseudo = match *pseudo_selector {
-                Component::PseudoElement(ref pseudo) => pseudo,
-                _ => unreachable!(
-                    "Someone seriously messed up selector parsing: \
-                     {:?} at offset {:?}: {:?}",
-                    next_invalidation.dependency, next_invalidation.offset, pseudo_selector,
-                ),
-            };
-
             // FIXME(emilio): This is not ideal, and could not be
             // accurate if we ever have stateful element-backed eager
             // pseudos.