diff --git a/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/mod.rs b/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/mod.rs
index 909cf36747..cb3bac489e 100644
--- a/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/mod.rs
@@ -1301,20 +1301,9 @@ where
         // Process all incoming messages from the CL, these can affect the state of the
         // SyncController, hence they are polled first, and they're also time sensitive.
         loop {
-            // If a new pipeline run is pending we poll the sync controller first so that it takes
-            // precedence over any FCU messages. This ensures that a queued pipeline run via
-            // [EngineSyncController::set_pipeline_sync_target] are processed before any forkchoice
-            // updates.
-            if this.sync.is_pipeline_sync_pending() {
-                // the next event is guaranteed to be a [EngineSyncEvent::PipelineStarted]
-                if let Poll::Ready(sync_event) = this.sync.poll(cx) {
-                    if let Some(res) = this.on_sync_event(sync_event) {
-                        return Poll::Ready(res)
-                    }
-                }
-            }
+            let mut engine_messages_pending = false;
 
-            // handle next engine message, else exit the loop
+            // handle next engine message
             match this.engine_message_rx.poll_next_unpin(cx) {
                 Poll::Ready(Some(msg)) => match msg {
                     BeaconEngineMessage::ForkchoiceUpdated { state, payload_attrs, tx } => {
@@ -1339,19 +1328,25 @@ where
                 }
                 Poll::Pending => {
                     // no more CL messages to process
-                    break
+                    engine_messages_pending = true;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // process sync events if any
+            match this.sync.poll(cx) {
+                Poll::Ready(sync_event) => {
+                    if let Some(res) = this.on_sync_event(sync_event) {
+                        return Poll::Ready(res)
+                    }
+                }
+                Poll::Pending => {
+                    if engine_messages_pending {
+                        // both the sync and the engine message receiver are pending
+                        return Poll::Pending
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
-
-        // drain the sync controller
-        while let Poll::Ready(sync_event) = this.sync.poll(cx) {
-            if let Some(res) = this.on_sync_event(sync_event) {
-                return Poll::Ready(res)
-            }
-        }
-
-        Poll::Pending
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/sync.rs b/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/sync.rs
index 70e99657c0..bc64c6d743 100644
--- a/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/sync.rs
+++ b/crates/consensus/beacon/src/engine/sync.rs
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ where
     }
 
     /// Returns `true` if a pipeline target is queued and will be triggered on the next `poll`.
+    #[allow(unused)]
     pub(crate) fn is_pipeline_sync_pending(&self) -> bool {
         self.pending_pipeline_target.is_some() && self.pipeline_state.is_idle()
     }