diff --git a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/PrettyTestRunner.cs b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/PrettyTestRunner.cs
index 86c86cbb7..db7f0e64b 100644
--- a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/PrettyTestRunner.cs
+++ b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/PrettyTestRunner.cs
@@ -926,6 +926,12 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests
 			await RunForLibrary(cscOptions: cscOptions);
 		}
 
+		[Test]
+		public async Task Issue3965([ValueSource(nameof(roslyn4OrNewerOptions))] CompilerOptions cscOptions)
+		{
+			await RunForLibrary(cscOptions: cscOptions);
+		}
+
 		[Test]
 		public async Task AssemblyCustomAttributes([ValueSource(nameof(defaultOptions))] CompilerOptions cscOptions)
 		{
diff --git a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/TestCases/Pretty/Issue3965.cs b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/TestCases/Pretty/Issue3965.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d735cf957
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/TestCases/Pretty/Issue3965.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+using System;
+
+namespace ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests.TestCases.Pretty
+{
+	internal class Issue3965
+	{
+		private static void M(int x)
+		{
+		}
+
+		private static void Use(Action<int> action)
+		{
+		}
+
+		public static void DiscardedMethodGroupConversion()
+		{
+#if EXPECTED_OUTPUT
+			new Action<int>(M);
+#else
+			_ = (Action<int>)M;
+#endif
+		}
+
+		public static void UsedMethodGroupConversion()
+		{
+			Use(M);
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/IL/Transforms/CachedDelegateInitialization.cs b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/IL/Transforms/CachedDelegateInitialization.cs
index e67f31123..48150bf5e 100644
--- a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/IL/Transforms/CachedDelegateInitialization.cs
+++ b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/IL/Transforms/CachedDelegateInitialization.cs
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.Decompiler.IL.Transforms
 				{
 					if (CachedDelegateInitializationWithField(inst))
 					{
-						block.Instructions.RemoveAt(i);
 						context.IndexOfFirstAlreadyTransformedInstruction = block.Instructions.Count;
 						continue;
 					}
@@ -95,13 +94,25 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.Decompiler.IL.Transforms
 			if (!DelegateConstruction.MatchDelegateConstruction(value.UnwrapConv(ConversionKind.Invalid) as NewObj, out _, out _, out _, true))
 				return false;
 			var nextInstruction = inst.Parent.Children.ElementAtOrDefault(inst.ChildIndex + 1);
-			if (nextInstruction == null)
-				return false;
-			var usages = nextInstruction.Descendants.Where(i => i.MatchLdsFld(field)).ToArray();
+			var usages = nextInstruction?.Descendants.Where(i => i.MatchLdsFld(field)).ToArray() ?? [];
+			if (usages.Length == 0)
+			{
+				// A discarded method-group conversion ("_ = (Action)M;") caches the
+				// delegate without ever reading the cache back. Keep the conversion,
+				// which still allocates, and drop the caching around it -- but only
+				// once the rest of the method is known not to read the field either.
+				if (context.Function.Descendants.Any(i => i != left && i.MatchLdsFld(field)))
+					return false;
+				context.Step("CachedDelegateInitializationWithField (unused)", inst);
+				inst.ReplaceWith(value);
+				context.EndStep(value);
+				return true;
+			}
 			if (usages.Length != 1)
 				return false;
 			context.Step("CachedDelegateInitializationWithField", inst);
 			usages[0].ReplaceWith(value);
+			((Block)inst.Parent).Instructions.RemoveAt(inst.ChildIndex);
 			context.EndStep(value);
 			return true;
 		}