diff --git a/eth/dropper.go b/eth/dropper.go
index 75eea891ca..741ca5cbd2 100644
--- a/eth/dropper.go
+++ b/eth/dropper.go
@@ -236,8 +236,21 @@ func (cm *dropper) protectedPeers(peers []*p2p.Peer) map[*p2p.Peer]bool {
 			dialed = append(dialed, p)
 		}
 	}
-	// protectPool selects the top-frac peers from pool by score and adds them to result.
+	result := protectedPeersByPool(inbound, dialed, stats)
+	if len(result) > 0 {
+		log.Debug("Protecting high-value peers from drop", "protected", len(result))
+	}
+	return result
+}
+
+// protectedPeersByPool selects the union of top-N peers per protection
+// category across the given already-split inbound and dialed pools.
+// Factored from protectedPeers so tests can exercise the per-pool
+// selection logic without needing to construct direction-flagged
+// *p2p.Peer instances (which require unexported p2p types).
+func protectedPeersByPool(inbound, dialed []*p2p.Peer, stats map[string]PeerInclusionStats) map[*p2p.Peer]bool {
 	result := make(map[*p2p.Peer]bool)
+	// protectPool selects the top-frac peers from pool by score and adds them to result.
 	protectPool := func(pool []*p2p.Peer, score func(*p2p.Peer) float64, frac float64) {
 		n := int(float64(len(pool)) * frac)
 		if n == 0 {
@@ -260,9 +273,6 @@ func (cm *dropper) protectedPeers(peers []*p2p.Peer) map[*p2p.Peer]bool {
 		protectPool(inbound, score, cat.frac)
 		protectPool(dialed, score, cat.frac)
 	}
-	if len(result) > 0 {
-		log.Debug("Protecting high-value peers from drop", "protected", len(result))
-	}
 	return result
 }
 
diff --git a/eth/dropper_test.go b/eth/dropper_test.go
index ba1eb66faf..ea764c9ab3 100644
--- a/eth/dropper_test.go
+++ b/eth/dropper_test.go
@@ -122,3 +122,112 @@ func TestProtectedPeersNilFunc(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("expected nil with nil stats func, got %v", protected)
 	}
 }
+
+// TestProtectedByPoolPerPoolTopN verifies that the top-N selection runs
+// independently in each of the inbound and dialed pools, not globally.
+// With 10 peers per pool and inclusionProtectionFrac=0.1, exactly 1 peer
+// is protected per pool per category — so 2 total (one per pool), both
+// for the Finalized category since we don't set RecentIncluded.
+func TestProtectedByPoolPerPoolTopN(t *testing.T) {
+	inbound := makePeers(10)
+	dialed := makePeers(10)
+	// Distinguish dialed peer IDs from inbound so stats maps don't collide.
+	for i := range dialed {
+		id := enode.ID{byte(100 + i)}
+		dialed[i] = p2p.NewPeer(id, fmt.Sprintf("dialed%d", i), nil)
+	}
+	// Strictly increasing scores: highest wins in each pool.
+	stats := make(map[string]PeerInclusionStats)
+	for i, p := range inbound {
+		stats[p.ID().String()] = PeerInclusionStats{Finalized: int64(1 + i)}
+	}
+	for i, p := range dialed {
+		stats[p.ID().String()] = PeerInclusionStats{Finalized: int64(1 + i)}
+	}
+
+	protected := protectedPeersByPool(inbound, dialed, stats)
+
+	// Expect top 1 of inbound (inbound[9]) and top 1 of dialed (dialed[9]).
+	if len(protected) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 2 protected peers (1 per pool), got %d", len(protected))
+	}
+	if !protected[inbound[9]] {
+		t.Error("expected top inbound peer to be protected")
+	}
+	if !protected[dialed[9]] {
+		t.Error("expected top dialed peer to be protected")
+	}
+}
+
+// TestProtectedByPoolCrossCategoryOverlap verifies that the union across
+// protection categories is correctly deduplicated: a peer that wins in
+// multiple categories appears once, and category winners are all
+// protected. Uses a pool large enough that frac*len yields n=2 per
+// category, so cross-category overlap is observable.
+func TestProtectedByPoolCrossCategoryOverlap(t *testing.T) {
+	// 20 dialed peers so 0.1 * 20 = 2 protected per category.
+	dialed := makePeers(20)
+	// P0: high Finalized only. P1: high RecentIncluded only. P2: high both.
+	// With n=2 per category:
+	//   Finalized winners:      P2 (tie-broken-ok), P0
+	//   RecentIncluded winners: P2, P1
+	// Union: {P0, P1, P2}.
+	stats := make(map[string]PeerInclusionStats)
+	stats[dialed[0].ID().String()] = PeerInclusionStats{Finalized: 100, RecentIncluded: 0}
+	stats[dialed[1].ID().String()] = PeerInclusionStats{Finalized: 0, RecentIncluded: 5.0}
+	stats[dialed[2].ID().String()] = PeerInclusionStats{Finalized: 200, RecentIncluded: 10.0}
+
+	protected := protectedPeersByPool(nil, dialed, stats)
+
+	if len(protected) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 3 protected peers (union of category winners), got %d", len(protected))
+	}
+	for _, idx := range []int{0, 1, 2} {
+		if !protected[dialed[idx]] {
+			t.Errorf("peer %d should be protected", idx)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TestProtectedByPoolPerPoolIndependence locks in that selection runs
+// per-pool, not globally. Every inbound peer scores higher than every
+// dialed peer, so a global top-N would pick only inbound peers. Per-pool
+// top-N must still protect the top dialed peers.
+func TestProtectedByPoolPerPoolIndependence(t *testing.T) {
+	// 20 inbound, 20 dialed — frac=0.1 → 2 protected per pool per category.
+	// Global top-4 of Finalized would be inbound[16..19] — zero dialed.
+	inbound := makePeers(20)
+	dialed := make([]*p2p.Peer, 20)
+	for i := range dialed {
+		id := enode.ID{byte(100 + i)}
+		dialed[i] = p2p.NewPeer(id, fmt.Sprintf("dialed%d", i), nil)
+	}
+	stats := make(map[string]PeerInclusionStats)
+	// Every inbound peer outscores every dialed peer.
+	for i, p := range inbound {
+		stats[p.ID().String()] = PeerInclusionStats{Finalized: int64(1000 + i)}
+	}
+	for i, p := range dialed {
+		stats[p.ID().String()] = PeerInclusionStats{Finalized: int64(1 + i)}
+	}
+
+	protected := protectedPeersByPool(inbound, dialed, stats)
+
+	// Per-pool top-2 of Finalized:
+	//   inbound: inbound[18], inbound[19]
+	//   dialed:  dialed[18], dialed[19]
+	// Global top-N would contain zero dialed peers, so asserting the top
+	// dialed peers are protected enforces per-pool independence.
+	if !protected[dialed[19]] {
+		t.Fatal("top dialed peer must be protected regardless of globally-higher inbound peers")
+	}
+	if !protected[dialed[18]] {
+		t.Fatal("second-top dialed peer must be protected regardless of globally-higher inbound peers")
+	}
+	if !protected[inbound[19]] || !protected[inbound[18]] {
+		t.Fatal("top inbound peers must also be protected")
+	}
+	if len(protected) != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 4 protected peers (top-2 of each pool), got %d", len(protected))
+	}
+}