diff --git a/distributed/worker_state_machine.py b/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
index fca6219e3b6..03a74164994 100644
--- a/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
+++ b/distributed/worker_state_machine.py
@@ -3021,10 +3021,12 @@ def validate_state(self) -> None:
                 assert worker in self.tasks[k].who_has
 
         for worker, tss in self.data_needed.items():
+            # Test that there aren't multiple TaskState objects with the same key in the
+            # set
+            assert len({ts.key for ts in tss}) == len(tss)
             for ts in tss:
                 assert ts.state == "fetch"
                 assert self.tasks[ts.key] is ts
-                assert ts in self.data_needed
                 assert worker in ts.who_has
 
         for ts in self.tasks.values():
@@ -3033,10 +3035,6 @@ def validate_state(self) -> None:
         if self.transition_counter_max:
             assert self.transition_counter < self.transition_counter_max
 
-        # Test that there aren't multiple TaskState objects with the same key in sets
-        for tss in self.data_needed.values():
-            assert len({ts.key for ts in tss}) == len(tss)
-
 
 class BaseWorker(abc.ABC):
     """Wrapper around the :class:`WorkerState` that implements instructions handling.