diff --git a/pkg/probe/http/http.go b/pkg/probe/http/http.go
index c11e03f18ae..5e04ff28be7 100644
--- a/pkg/probe/http/http.go
+++ b/pkg/probe/http/http.go
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ type httpProber struct {
 
 // Probe returns a ProbeRunner capable of running an HTTP check.
 func (pr httpProber) Probe(url *url.URL, headers http.Header, timeout time.Duration) (probe.Result, string, error) {
+	pr.transport.DisableCompression = true // removes Accept-Encoding header
 	client := &http.Client{
 		Timeout:       timeout,
 		Transport:     pr.transport,
@@ -104,15 +105,12 @@ func DoHTTPProbe(url *url.URL, headers http.Header, client GetHTTPInterface) (pr
 	if _, ok := headers["Accept"]; !ok {
 		// Accept header was not defined. accept all
 		headers.Set("Accept", "*/*")
-	}
-	if headers.Get("Accept") == "" {
+	} else if headers.Get("Accept") == "" {
 		// Accept header was overridden but is empty. removing
 		headers.Del("Accept")
 	}
 	req.Header = headers
-	if headers.Get("Host") != "" {
-		req.Host = headers.Get("Host")
-	}
+	req.Host = headers.Get("Host")
 	res, err := client.Do(req)
 	if err != nil {
 		// Convert errors into failures to catch timeouts.
diff --git a/pkg/probe/http/http_test.go b/pkg/probe/http/http_test.go
index f02dee7c123..b1500348243 100644
--- a/pkg/probe/http/http_test.go
+++ b/pkg/probe/http/http_test.go
@@ -158,13 +158,37 @@ func TestHTTPProbeChecker(t *testing.T) {
 			handler:    headerCounterHandler,
 			reqHeaders: http.Header{},
 			health:     probe.Success,
-			accBody:    "4",
+			accBody:    "3",
 		},
 		{
 			handler:    headerKeysNamesHandler,
 			reqHeaders: http.Header{},
 			health:     probe.Success,
-			accBody:    "Accept\nAccept-Encoding\nConnection\nUser-Agent",
+			accBody:    "Accept\nConnection\nUser-Agent",
+		},
+		{
+			handler: headerEchoHandler,
+			reqHeaders: http.Header{
+				"Accept-Encoding": {"gzip"},
+			},
+			health:  probe.Success,
+			accBody: "Accept-Encoding: gzip",
+		},
+		{
+			handler: headerEchoHandler,
+			reqHeaders: http.Header{
+				"Accept-Encoding": {"foo"},
+			},
+			health:  probe.Success,
+			accBody: "Accept-Encoding: foo",
+		},
+		{
+			handler: headerEchoHandler,
+			reqHeaders: http.Header{
+				"Accept-Encoding": {""},
+			},
+			health:  probe.Success,
+			accBody: "Accept-Encoding: \n",
 		},
 		{
 			handler: headerEchoHandler,