diff --git a/transport-native-epoll/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/epoll/AbstractEpollStreamChannel.java b/transport-native-epoll/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/epoll/AbstractEpollStreamChannel.java
index 6a48ea8c14..71abae94cb 100644
--- a/transport-native-epoll/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/epoll/AbstractEpollStreamChannel.java
+++ b/transport-native-epoll/src/main/java/io/netty/channel/epoll/AbstractEpollStreamChannel.java
@@ -66,9 +66,9 @@ public abstract class AbstractEpollStreamChannel extends AbstractEpollChannel im
         // meantime.
         ((AbstractEpollUnsafe) unsafe()).flush0();
     };
-    private Queue<SpliceInTask> spliceQueue;
 
     // Lazy init these if we need to splice(...)
+    private volatile Queue<SpliceInTask> spliceQueue;
     private FileDescriptor pipeIn;
     private FileDescriptor pipeOut;
 
@@ -646,13 +646,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractEpollStreamChannel extends AbstractEpollChannel im
     }
 
     private void clearSpliceQueue() {
-        if (spliceQueue == null) {
+        Queue<SpliceInTask> sQueue = spliceQueue;
+        if (sQueue == null) {
             return;
         }
         ClosedChannelException exception = null;
 
         for (;;) {
-            SpliceInTask task = spliceQueue.poll();
+            SpliceInTask task = sQueue.poll();
             if (task == null) {
                 break;
             }
@@ -725,15 +726,16 @@ public abstract class AbstractEpollStreamChannel extends AbstractEpollChannel im
             ByteBuf byteBuf = null;
             boolean close = false;
             try {
+                Queue<SpliceInTask> sQueue = null;
                 do {
-                    if (spliceQueue != null) {
-                        SpliceInTask spliceTask = spliceQueue.peek();
+                    if (sQueue != null || (sQueue = spliceQueue) != null) {
+                        SpliceInTask spliceTask = sQueue.peek();
                         if (spliceTask != null) {
                             if (spliceTask.spliceIn(allocHandle)) {
                                 // We need to check if it is still active as if not we removed all SpliceTasks in
                                 // doClose(...)
                                 if (isActive()) {
-                                    spliceQueue.remove();
+                                    sQueue.remove();
                                 }
                                 continue;
                             } else {
@@ -795,19 +797,16 @@ public abstract class AbstractEpollStreamChannel extends AbstractEpollChannel im
     }
 
     private void addToSpliceQueue(final SpliceInTask task) {
-        EventLoop eventLoop = eventLoop();
-        if (eventLoop.inEventLoop()) {
-            addToSpliceQueue0(task);
-        } else {
-            eventLoop.execute(() -> addToSpliceQueue0(task));
+        Queue<SpliceInTask> sQueue = spliceQueue;
+        if (sQueue == null) {
+            synchronized (this) {
+                sQueue = spliceQueue;
+                if (sQueue == null) {
+                    spliceQueue = sQueue = PlatformDependent.newMpscQueue();
+                }
+            }
         }
-    }
-
-    private void addToSpliceQueue0(SpliceInTask task) {
-        if (spliceQueue == null) {
-            spliceQueue = PlatformDependent.newMpscQueue();
-        }
-        spliceQueue.add(task);
+        sQueue.add(task);
     }
 
     protected abstract class SpliceInTask {