diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Crawler.php b/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Crawler.php
index 5dd4dba3cd..50f00c1ff7 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Crawler.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Crawler.php
@@ -245,7 +245,9 @@ class Crawler extends \SplObjectStorage
     public function addNodeList(\DOMNodeList $nodes)
     {
         foreach ($nodes as $node) {
-            $this->addNode($node);
+            if ($node instanceof \DOMNode) {
+                $this->addNode($node);
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -834,18 +836,22 @@ class Crawler extends \SplObjectStorage
             // BC for Symfony 2.4 and lower were elements were adding in a fake _root parent
             if (0 === strpos($expression, '/_root/')) {
                 $expression = './'.substr($expression, 7);
+            } elseif (0 === strpos($expression, 'self::*/')) {
+                $expression = './'.substr($expression, 8);
             }
 
             // add prefix before absolute element selector
             if (empty($expression)) {
                 $expression = $nonMatchingExpression;
             } elseif (0 === strpos($expression, '//')) {
-                $expression = 'descendant-or-self::' . substr($expression, 2);
+                $expression = 'descendant-or-self::'.substr($expression, 2);
             } elseif (0 === strpos($expression, './/')) {
-                $expression = 'descendant-or-self::' . substr($expression, 3);
+                $expression = 'descendant-or-self::'.substr($expression, 3);
             } elseif (0 === strpos($expression, './')) {
-                $expression = 'self::' . substr($expression, 2);
-            } elseif ('/' === $expression[0]) {
+                $expression = 'self::'.substr($expression, 2);
+            } elseif (0 === strpos($expression, 'child::')) {
+                $expression = 'self::'.substr($expression, 7);
+            } elseif ('/' === $expression[0] || 0 === strpos($expression, 'self::')) {
                 // the only direct child in Symfony 2.4 and lower is _root, which is already handled previously
                 // so let's drop the expression entirely
                 $expression = $nonMatchingExpression;
@@ -853,9 +859,12 @@ class Crawler extends \SplObjectStorage
                 // '.' is the fake root element in Symfony 2.4 and lower, which is excluded from results
                 $expression = $nonMatchingExpression;
             } elseif (0 === strpos($expression, 'descendant::')) {
-                $expression = 'descendant-or-self::' . substr($expression, strlen('descendant::'));
-            } elseif (!preg_match('/^(ancestor|ancestor-or-self|attribute|child|descendant-or-self|following|following-sibling|parent|preceding|preceding-sibling|self)::/', $expression)) {
-                $expression = 'self::' .$expression;
+                $expression = 'descendant-or-self::'.substr($expression, strlen('descendant::'));
+            } elseif (preg_match('/^(ancestor|ancestor-or-self|attribute|following|following-sibling|namespace|parent|preceding|preceding-sibling)::/', $expression)) {
+                // the fake root has no parent, preceding or following nodes and also no attributes (even no namespace attributes)
+                $expression = $nonMatchingExpression;
+            } elseif (0 !== strpos($expression, 'descendant-or-self::')) {
+                $expression = 'self::'.$expression;
             }
             $expressions[] = $parenthesis.$expression;
         }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Tests/CrawlerTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Tests/CrawlerTest.php
index 4c9a4bcecf..4d4c5ac2a1 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Tests/CrawlerTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/DomCrawler/Tests/CrawlerTest.php
@@ -388,8 +388,8 @@ EOF
         $this->assertCount(1, $crawler->filterXPath('//body'));
         $this->assertCount(1, $crawler->filterXPath('descendant-or-self::body'));
         $this->assertCount(1, $crawler->filterXPath('//div[@id="parent"]')->filterXPath('./div'), 'A child selection finds only the current div');
-        $this->assertCount(2, $crawler->filterXPath('//div[@id="parent"]')->filterXPath('descendant::div'), 'A descendant selector matches the current div and its child');
-        $this->assertCount(2, $crawler->filterXPath('//div[@id="parent"]')->filterXPath('//div'), 'A descendant selector matches the current div and its child');
+        $this->assertCount(3, $crawler->filterXPath('//div[@id="parent"]')->filterXPath('descendant::div'), 'A descendant selector matches the current div and its child');
+        $this->assertCount(3, $crawler->filterXPath('//div[@id="parent"]')->filterXPath('//div'), 'A descendant selector matches the current div and its child');
         $this->assertCount(5, $crawler->filterXPath('(//a | //div)//img'));
         $this->assertCount(7, $crawler->filterXPath('((//a | //div)//img | //ul)'));
         $this->assertCount(7, $crawler->filterXPath('( ( //a | //div )//img | //ul )'));
@@ -411,72 +411,104 @@ EOF
         $this->assertCount(3, $crawler->filterXPath('//body')->filterXPath('//button')->parents(), '->filterXpath() preserves parents when chained');
     }
 
+    public function testFilterXPathWithFakeRoot()
+    {
+        $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler();
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('.'), '->filterXPath() returns an empty result if the XPath references the fake root node');
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('/_root'), '->filterXPath() returns an empty result if the XPath references the fake root node');
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('self::*'), '->filterXPath() returns an empty result if the XPath references the fake root node');
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('self::_root'), '->filterXPath() returns an empty result if the XPath references the fake root node');
+    }
+
     public function testFilterXPathWithAncestorAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//form');
 
-        $this->assertCount(2, $crawler->filterXPath('ancestor::*'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('ancestor::*'), 'The fake root node has no ancestor nodes');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithAncestorOrSelfAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//form');
 
-        $this->assertCount(3, $crawler->filterXPath('ancestor-or-self::*'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('ancestor-or-self::*'), 'The fake root node has no ancestor nodes');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithAttributeAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//form');
 
-        $this->assertCount(2, $crawler->filterXPath('attribute::*'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('attribute::*'), 'The fake root node has no attribute nodes');
+    }
+
+    public function testFilterXPathWithAttributeAxisAfterElementAxis()
+    {
+        $this->assertCount(3, $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//form/button/attribute::*'), '->filterXPath() handles attribute axes properly when they are preceded by an element filtering axis');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithChildAxis()
     {
-        $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//body');
+        $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//div[@id="parent"]');
 
-        $this->assertCount(2, $crawler->filterXPath('child::input'));
+        $this->assertCount(1, $crawler->filterXPath('child::div'), 'A child selection finds only the current div');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithFollowingAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//a');
 
-        $this->assertCount(3, $crawler->filterXPath('following::div'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('following::div'), 'The fake root node has no following nodes');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithFollowingSiblingAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//a');
 
-        $this->assertCount(2, $crawler->filterXPath('following-sibling::div'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('following-sibling::div'), 'The fake root node has no following nodes');
+    }
+
+    public function testFilterXPathWithNamespaceAxis()
+    {
+        $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//button');
+
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('namespace::*'), 'The fake root node has no namespace nodes');
+    }
+
+    public function testFilterXPathWithNamespaceAxisAfterElementAxis()
+    {
+        $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//div[@id="parent"]/namespace::*');
+
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('namespace::*'), 'Namespace axes cannot be requested');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithParentAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//button');
 
-        $this->assertEquals('foo', $crawler->filterXPath('parent::*')->attr('action'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('parent::*'), 'The fake root node has no parent nodes');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithPrecedingAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//form');
 
-        $this->assertCount(13, $crawler->filterXPath('preceding::*'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('preceding::*'), 'The fake root node has no preceding nodes');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithPrecedingSiblingAxis()
     {
         $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//form');
 
-        $this->assertCount(9, $crawler->filterXPath('preceding-sibling::*'));
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('preceding-sibling::*'), 'The fake root node has no preceding nodes');
     }
 
     public function testFilterXPathWithSelfAxes()
     {
-        $this->assertCount(1, $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('self::*'));
+        $crawler = $this->createTestCrawler()->filterXPath('//a');
+
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('self::a'), 'The fake root node has no "real" element name');
+        $this->assertCount(0, $crawler->filterXPath('self::a/img'), 'The fake root node has no "real" element name');
+        $this->assertCount(9, $crawler->filterXPath('self::*/a'));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -844,6 +876,7 @@ HTML;
                     </ul>
                     <div id="parent">
                         <div id="child"></div>
+                        <div id="child2" xmlns:foo="http://example.com"></div>
                     </div>
                     <div id="sibling"><img /></div>
                 </body>