diff --git a/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_pipe_methods.py b/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_pipe_methods.py
index 4c0088804..ce201a65a 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_pipe_methods.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/pipeline/test_pipe_methods.py
@@ -421,8 +421,6 @@ def test_add_pipe_before_after():
         nlp.add_pipe("entity_ruler", before="ner", after=2)
     with pytest.raises(ValueError):
         nlp.add_pipe("entity_ruler", before=True)
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
-        nlp.add_pipe("entity_ruler", first=False)
 
 
 def test_disable_enable_pipes():