diff --git a/tests/Operation/AggregateFunctionalTest.php b/tests/Operation/AggregateFunctionalTest.php
index 3d1057ac9..7146ac973 100644
--- a/tests/Operation/AggregateFunctionalTest.php
+++ b/tests/Operation/AggregateFunctionalTest.php
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 use MongoDB\Tests\Fixtures\Document\TestObject;
 use stdClass;
 
+use function array_key_exists;
+use function array_key_first;
 use function current;
 use function iterator_to_array;
 
@@ -182,9 +184,16 @@ public function testExplainOption(): void
 
         $this->assertCount(1, $results);
 
+        $checkResult = $results[0];
+        // Sharded clusters and load balanced servers list plans per shard
+        if (array_key_exists('shards', $results[0])) {
+            $firstShard = array_key_first((array) $results[0]['shards']);
+            $checkResult = (array) $results[0]['shards']->$firstShard;
+        }
+
         /* MongoDB 4.2 may optimize aggregate pipelines into queries, which can
          * result in different explain output (see: SERVER-24860) */
-        $this->assertThat($results[0], $this->logicalOr(
+        $this->assertThat($checkResult, $this->logicalOr(
             $this->arrayHasKey('stages'),
             $this->arrayHasKey('queryPlanner'),
         ));
diff --git a/tests/Operation/ExplainFunctionalTest.php b/tests/Operation/ExplainFunctionalTest.php
index f37814486..c620dbeaf 100644
--- a/tests/Operation/ExplainFunctionalTest.php
+++ b/tests/Operation/ExplainFunctionalTest.php
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 use MongoDB\Operation\UpdateOne;
 use MongoDB\Tests\CommandObserver;
 
+use function array_key_exists;
+use function array_key_first;
+
 class ExplainFunctionalTest extends FunctionalTestCase
 {
     /** @dataProvider provideVerbosityInformation */
@@ -368,21 +371,28 @@ public function provideVerbosityInformation()
 
     private function assertExplainResult($result, $executionStatsExpected, $allPlansExecutionExpected, $stagesExpected = false): void
     {
+        $checkResult = $result;
+
+        if (array_key_exists('shards', $result)) {
+            $firstShard = array_key_first($result['shards']);
+            $checkResult = $result['shards'][$firstShard];
+        }
+
         if ($stagesExpected) {
-            $this->assertArrayHasKey('stages', $result);
+            $this->assertArrayHasKey('stages', $checkResult);
         } else {
-            $this->assertArrayHasKey('queryPlanner', $result);
+            $this->assertArrayHasKey('queryPlanner', $checkResult);
         }
 
         if ($executionStatsExpected) {
-            $this->assertArrayHasKey('executionStats', $result);
+            $this->assertArrayHasKey('executionStats', $checkResult);
             if ($allPlansExecutionExpected) {
-                $this->assertArrayHasKey('allPlansExecution', $result['executionStats']);
+                $this->assertArrayHasKey('allPlansExecution', $checkResult['executionStats']);
             } else {
-                $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('allPlansExecution', $result['executionStats']);
+                $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('allPlansExecution', $checkResult['executionStats']);
             }
         } else {
-            $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('executionStats', $result);
+            $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('executionStats', $checkResult);
         }
     }