diff --git a/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-dependency-manager.ts b/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-dependency-manager.ts
index 14a16c32..210cde6b 100644
--- a/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-dependency-manager.ts
+++ b/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-dependency-manager.ts
@@ -360,6 +360,10 @@ export class XdsDependencyManager {
   constructor(private xdsClient: XdsClient, private listenerResourceName: string, private dataPlaneAuthority: string, private watcher: XdsConfigWatcher) {
     this.ldsWatcher = new Watcher<Listener__Output>({
       onResourceChanged: (update: Listener__Output) => {
+        if (!update.api_listener) {
+          this.trace('Received Listener resource not usable on client');
+          return;
+        }
         this.latestListener = update;
         const httpConnectionManager = decodeSingleResource(HTTP_CONNECTION_MANGER_TYPE_URL, update.api_listener!.api_listener!.value);
         switch (httpConnectionManager.route_specifier) {
diff --git a/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-resource-type/listener-resource-type.ts b/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-resource-type/listener-resource-type.ts
index f78bc7e6..82586fe4 100644
--- a/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-resource-type/listener-resource-type.ts
+++ b/packages/grpc-js-xds/src/xds-resource-type/listener-resource-type.ts
@@ -294,6 +294,9 @@ export class ListenerResourceType extends XdsResourceType {
     if (message.default_filter_chain) {
       errors.push(...validateFilterChain(context, message.default_filter_chain).map(error => `default_filter_chain: ${error}`));
     }
+    if (!message.api_listener && !message.default_filter_chain && message.filter_chains.length === 0) {
+      errors.push('No api_listener and no filter_chains and no default_filter_chain');
+    }
     if (errors.length === 0) {
       return {
         valid: true,