diff --git a/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client.go b/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client.go
index d7fa753d9..b58472914 100644
--- a/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client.go
+++ b/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client.go
@@ -29,6 +29,26 @@ import (
 
 const ackWaitTimeout = 30 * time.Second
 
+type epollState struct {
+	// connections is a map of fd -> connection to keep track of all active connections
+	connections    map[int]*connection
+	hasConnections atomic.Bool
+	// triggers is a map of subscription id -> fd to easily look up the connection for a subscription id
+	triggers map[uint64]int
+
+	// clientUnsubscribe is a channel to signal to the epoll run loop that a client needs to be unsubscribed
+	clientUnsubscribe chan uint64
+	// addConn is a channel to signal to the epoll run loop that a new connection needs to be added
+	addConn chan *connection
+	// waitForEventsTicker is the ticker for the epoll run loop
+	// it is used to prevent busy waiting and to limit the CPU usage
+	// instead of polling the epoll instance all the time, we wait until the next tick to throttle the epoll loop
+	waitForEventsTicker *time.Ticker
+
+	// waitForEventsTick is the channel to receive the tick from the waitForEventsTicker
+	waitForEventsTick <-chan time.Time
+}
+
 // subscriptionClient allows running multiple subscriptions via the same WebSocket either SSE connection
 // It takes care of de-duplicating connections to the same origin under certain circumstances
 // If Hash(URL,Body,Headers) result in the same result, an existing connection is re-used
@@ -47,23 +67,7 @@ type subscriptionClient struct {
 
 	epoll       epoller.Poller
 	epollConfig EpollConfiguration
-
-	// connections is a map of fd -> connection to keep track of all active connections
-	connections    map[int]*connection
-	hasConnections atomic.Bool
-	// triggers is a map of subscription id -> fd to easily look up the connection for a subscription id
-	triggers map[uint64]int
-
-	// clientUnsubscribe is a channel to signal to the epoll run loop that a client needs to be unsubscribed
-	clientUnsubscribe chan uint64
-	// addConn is a channel to signal to the epoll run loop that a new connection needs to be added
-	addConn chan *connection
-	// waitForEventsTicker is the ticker for the epoll run loop
-	// it is used to prevent busy waiting and to limit the CPU usage
-	// instead of polling the epoll instance all the time, we wait until the next tick to throttle the epoll loop
-	waitForEventsTicker *time.Ticker
-	// waitForEventsTick is the channel to receive the tick from the waitForEventsTicker
-	waitForEventsTick <-chan time.Time
+	epollState  *epollState
 }
 
 func (c *subscriptionClient) SubscribeAsync(ctx *resolve.Context, id uint64, options GraphQLSubscriptionOptions, updater resolve.SubscriptionUpdater) error {
@@ -81,7 +85,12 @@ func (c *subscriptionClient) SubscribeAsync(ctx *resolve.Context, id uint64, opt
 }
 
 func (c *subscriptionClient) Unsubscribe(id uint64) {
-	c.clientUnsubscribe <- id
+	// if we don't have epoll, we don't have a channel consumer of the clientUnsubscribe channel
+	// we have to return to prevent a deadlock
+	if c.epoll == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	c.epollState.clientUnsubscribe <- id
 }
 
 type InvalidWsSubprotocolError struct {
@@ -195,16 +204,19 @@ func NewGraphQLSubscriptionClient(httpClient, streamingClient *http.Client, engi
 		epollConfig:                op.epollConfiguration,
 	}
 	if !op.epollConfiguration.Disable {
-		client.connections = make(map[int]*connection)
-		client.triggers = make(map[uint64]int)
-		client.clientUnsubscribe = make(chan uint64, op.epollConfiguration.BufferSize)
-		client.addConn = make(chan *connection, op.epollConfiguration.BufferSize)
-		// this is not needed, but we want to make it explicit that we're starting with nil as the tick channel
-		// reading from nil channels blocks forever, which allows us to prevent the epoll loop from starting
-		// once we add the first connection, we start the ticker and set the tick channel
-		// after the last connection is removed, we set the tick channel to nil again
-		// this way we can start and stop the epoll loop dynamically
-		client.waitForEventsTick = nil
+		client.epollState = &epollState{
+			connections:       make(map[int]*connection),
+			triggers:          make(map[uint64]int),
+			clientUnsubscribe: make(chan uint64, op.epollConfiguration.BufferSize),
+			addConn:           make(chan *connection, op.epollConfiguration.BufferSize),
+			// this is not needed, but we want to make it explicit that we're starting with nil as the tick channel
+			// reading from nil channels blocks forever, which allows us to prevent the epoll loop from starting
+			// once we add the first connection, we start the ticker and set the tick channel
+			// after the last connection is removed, we set the tick channel to nil again
+			// this way we can start and stop the epoll loop dynamically
+			waitForEventsTick: nil,
+		}
+
 		// ignore error is ok, it means that epoll is not supported, which is handled gracefully by the client
 		epoll, _ := epoller.NewPoller(op.epollConfiguration.BufferSize, op.epollConfiguration.TickInterval)
 		if epoll != nil {
@@ -323,7 +335,7 @@ func (c *subscriptionClient) asyncSubscribeWS(requestContext, engineContext cont
 	fd := epoller.SocketFD(conn.conn)
 	conn.id, conn.fd = id, fd
 	// submit the connection to the epoll run loop
-	c.addConn <- conn
+	c.epollState.addConn <- conn
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -636,16 +648,16 @@ func (c *subscriptionClient) runEpoll(ctx context.Context) {
 		// if the engine context is done, we close the epoll loop
 		case <-done:
 			return
-		case conn := <-c.addConn:
+		case conn := <-c.epollState.addConn:
 			c.handleAddConn(conn)
-		case id := <-c.clientUnsubscribe:
+		case id := <-c.epollState.clientUnsubscribe:
 			c.handleClientUnsubscribe(id)
 			// while len(c.connections) == 0, this channel is nil, so we will never try to wait for epoll events
 			// this is important to prevent busy waiting
 			// once we add the first connection, we start the ticker and set the tick channel
 			// the ticker ensures that we don't poll the epoll instance all the time,
 			// but at most every TickInterval
-		case <-c.waitForEventsTick:
+		case <-c.epollState.waitForEventsTick:
 			events, err := c.epoll.Wait(c.epollConfig.WaitForNumEvents)
 			if err != nil {
 				c.log.Error("epoll.Wait", abstractlogger.Error(err))
@@ -656,7 +668,7 @@ func (c *subscriptionClient) runEpoll(ctx context.Context) {
 
 			for i := range events {
 				fd := epoller.SocketFD(events[i])
-				conn, ok := c.connections[fd]
+				conn, ok := c.epollState.connections[fd]
 				if !ok {
 					// Should never happen
 					panic(fmt.Sprintf("connection with fd %d not found", fd))
@@ -684,9 +696,9 @@ func (c *subscriptionClient) runEpoll(ctx context.Context) {
 					}
 					// we decrease the number of events we're waiting for to eventually break the loop
 					waitForEvents--
-				case conn := <-c.addConn:
+				case conn := <-c.epollState.addConn:
 					c.handleAddConn(conn)
-				case id := <-c.clientUnsubscribe:
+				case id := <-c.epollState.clientUnsubscribe:
 					c.handleClientUnsubscribe(id)
 				case <-done:
 					return
@@ -698,10 +710,10 @@ func (c *subscriptionClient) runEpoll(ctx context.Context) {
 
 func (c *subscriptionClient) close() {
 	defer c.log.Debug("subscriptionClient.close", abstractlogger.String("reason", "epoll closed by context"))
-	if c.waitForEventsTicker != nil {
-		c.waitForEventsTicker.Stop()
+	if c.epollState.waitForEventsTicker != nil {
+		c.epollState.waitForEventsTicker.Stop()
 	}
-	for _, conn := range c.connections {
+	for _, conn := range c.epollState.connections {
 		_ = c.epoll.Remove(conn.conn)
 		conn.handler.ServerClose()
 	}
@@ -719,52 +731,52 @@ func (c *subscriptionClient) handleAddConn(conn *connection) {
 		conn.handler.ServerClose()
 		return
 	}
-	c.connections[conn.fd] = conn
-	c.triggers[conn.id] = conn.fd
+	c.epollState.connections[conn.fd] = conn
+	c.epollState.triggers[conn.id] = conn.fd
 	// when we previously had 0 connections, we will have 1 connection now
 	// this means we need to start the ticker so that we get epoll events
-	if len(c.connections) == 1 {
-		c.waitForEventsTicker = time.NewTicker(c.epollConfig.TickInterval)
-		c.waitForEventsTick = c.waitForEventsTicker.C
-		c.hasConnections.Store(true)
+	if len(c.epollState.connections) == 1 {
+		c.epollState.waitForEventsTicker = time.NewTicker(c.epollConfig.TickInterval)
+		c.epollState.waitForEventsTick = c.epollState.waitForEventsTicker.C
+		c.epollState.hasConnections.Store(true)
 	}
 }
 
 func (c *subscriptionClient) handleClientUnsubscribe(id uint64) {
-	fd, ok := c.triggers[id]
+	fd, ok := c.epollState.triggers[id]
 	if !ok {
 		return
 	}
-	delete(c.triggers, id)
-	conn, ok := c.connections[fd]
+	delete(c.epollState.triggers, id)
+	conn, ok := c.epollState.connections[fd]
 	if !ok {
 		return
 	}
-	delete(c.connections, fd)
+	delete(c.epollState.connections, fd)
 	_ = c.epoll.Remove(conn.conn)
 	conn.handler.ClientClose()
 	// if we have no connections left, we stop the ticker
-	if len(c.connections) == 0 {
-		c.waitForEventsTicker.Stop()
-		c.waitForEventsTick = nil
-		c.hasConnections.Store(false)
+	if len(c.epollState.connections) == 0 {
+		c.epollState.waitForEventsTicker.Stop()
+		c.epollState.waitForEventsTick = nil
+		c.epollState.hasConnections.Store(false)
 	}
 }
 
 func (c *subscriptionClient) handleServerUnsubscribe(fd int) {
-	conn, ok := c.connections[fd]
+	conn, ok := c.epollState.connections[fd]
 	if !ok {
 		return
 	}
-	delete(c.connections, fd)
-	delete(c.triggers, conn.id)
+	delete(c.epollState.connections, fd)
+	delete(c.epollState.triggers, conn.id)
 	_ = c.epoll.Remove(conn.conn)
 	conn.handler.ServerClose()
 	// if we have no connections left, we stop the ticker
-	if len(c.connections) == 0 {
-		c.waitForEventsTicker.Stop()
-		c.waitForEventsTick = nil
-		c.hasConnections.Store(false)
+	if len(c.epollState.connections) == 0 {
+		c.epollState.waitForEventsTicker.Stop()
+		c.epollState.waitForEventsTick = nil
+		c.epollState.hasConnections.Store(false)
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client_test.go b/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client_test.go
index ae3e65163..c743efe00 100644
--- a/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client_test.go
+++ b/v2/pkg/engine/datasource/graphql_datasource/graphql_subscription_client_test.go
@@ -907,7 +907,7 @@ func TestAsyncSubscribe(t *testing.T) {
 			return true
 		}, time.Second*5, time.Millisecond*10, "server did not close")
 		time.Sleep(time.Second)
-		assert.Equal(t, false, client.hasConnections.Load())
+		assert.Equal(t, false, client.epollState.hasConnections.Load())
 	})
 	t.Run("forever timeout", func(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Parallel()
@@ -1103,7 +1103,7 @@ func TestAsyncSubscribe(t *testing.T) {
 				return true
 			}, time.Second, time.Millisecond*10, "server did not close")
 			serverCancel()
-			assert.Equal(t, false, client.hasConnections.Load())
+			assert.Equal(t, false, client.epollState.hasConnections.Load())
 		})
 		t.Run("error object", func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()