* submitted sync once the chain is complete. If none of those
         * conditions are true (normal request), then just queue it.
         */
-       if (link->head) {
+       if (unlikely(link->head)) {
                ret = io_req_prep_async(req);
                if (unlikely(ret))
                        return io_submit_fail_init(sqe, req, ret);
                /* last request of the link, flush it */
                req = link->head;
                link->head = NULL;
-       } else if (req->flags & IO_REQ_LINK_FLAGS) {
-               link->head = req;
-               link->last = req;
+               if (req->flags & (REQ_F_FORCE_ASYNC | REQ_F_FAIL))
+                       goto fallback;
+
+       } else if (unlikely(req->flags & (IO_REQ_LINK_FLAGS |
+                                         REQ_F_FORCE_ASYNC | REQ_F_FAIL))) {
+               if (req->flags & IO_REQ_LINK_FLAGS) {
+                       link->head = req;
+                       link->last = req;
+               } else {
+fallback:
+                       io_queue_sqe_fallback(req);
+               }
                return 0;
        }
 
-       if (likely(!(req->flags & (REQ_F_FORCE_ASYNC | REQ_F_FAIL))))
-               io_queue_sqe(req);
-       else
-               io_queue_sqe_fallback(req);
-
+       io_queue_sqe(req);
        return 0;
 }