diff --git a/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh b/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh

index 78ea4fed6..48af49eb8 100644

--- a/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh

+++ b/include/maxscale/queryclassifier.hh

@@ -245,6 +245,17 @@ public:

         return m_ps_continuation;

     }

+    /**

+     * Whether the statement alone is read-only

+     *

+     * This disregards the transaction state and other factors that might affect the target type

+     * selection done by the query classifier.

+     */

+    bool stmt_is_read_only() const

+    {

+        return query_type_is_read_only(m_route_info.type_mask());

+    }

+

     /**

      * @brief Store and process a prepared statement

      *

diff --git a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplit_route_stmt.cc b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplit_route_stmt.cc

index 4a62c693e..ffc5382c9 100644

--- a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplit_route_stmt.cc

+++ b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplit_route_stmt.cc

@@ -199,6 +199,11 @@ bool RWSplitSession::route_single_stmt(GWBUF* querybuf)

     uint8_t command = info.command();

     uint32_t qtype = info.type_mask();

     route_target_t route_target = info.target();

+    bool was_implicit_trx = m_implicit_trx;

+

+    m_implicit_trx = !session_is_autocommit(m_client->session)

+        && (qc_query_is_type(qtype, QUERY_TYPE_DISABLE_AUTOCOMMIT)

+            || qc_query_is_type(qtype, QUERY_TYPE_COMMIT));

     SRWBackend target;

@@ -210,9 +215,10 @@ bool RWSplitSession::route_single_stmt(GWBUF* querybuf)

     {

         update_trx_statistics();

-        if (m_qc.is_trx_starting()                          // A transaction is starting

-            && !session_trx_is_read_only(m_client->session) // Not explicitly read-only

-            && should_try_trx_on_slave(route_target))       // Qualifies for speculative routing

+        if ((m_qc.is_trx_starting()                             // A transaction is starting

+             || (was_implicit_trx && m_qc.stmt_is_read_only())) // Implicit trx start with autocommit=0

+            && !session_trx_is_read_only(m_client->session)     // Not explicitly read-only

+            && should_try_trx_on_slave(route_target))           // Qualifies for speculative routing

         {

             // Speculatively start routing the transaction to a slave

             m_otrx_state = OTRX_STARTING;

diff --git a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.hh b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.hh

index 9da56dcf2..5630279e6 100644

--- a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.hh

+++ b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.hh

@@ -173,6 +173,8 @@ public:

                                      * This avoids the lookup involved in getting the worker-local value from

                                      * the worker's container.*/

+    bool m_implicit_trx = false;

+

 private:

     RWSplitSession(RWSplit* instance,

                    MXS_SESSION* session,