diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/BrowserKit/Client.php b/src/Symfony/Component/BrowserKit/Client.php
index a8e4f440e98a..8102a22a107e 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/BrowserKit/Client.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/BrowserKit/Client.php
@@ -297,7 +297,11 @@ public function click(Link $link)
      */
     public function clickLink(string $linkText): Crawler
     {
-        return $this->click($this->getCrawler()->selectLink($linkText)->link());
+        if (null === $this->crawler) {
+            throw new BadMethodCallException(sprintf('The "request()" method must be called before "%s()".', __METHOD__));
+        }
+
+        return $this->click($this->crawler->selectLink($linkText)->link());
     }
 
     /**
@@ -332,7 +336,11 @@ public function submit(Form $form, array $values = array()/*, array $serverParam
      */
     public function submitForm(string $button, array $fieldValues = array(), string $method = 'POST', array $serverParameters = array()): Crawler
     {
-        $buttonNode = $this->getCrawler()->selectButton($button);
+        if (null === $this->crawler) {
+            throw new BadMethodCallException(sprintf('The "request()" method must be called before "%s()".', __METHOD__));
+        }
+
+        $buttonNode = $this->crawler->selectButton($button);
         $form = $buttonNode->form($fieldValues, $method);
 
         return $this->submit($form, array(), $serverParameters);