diff --git a/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager.go b/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager.go
index b0c843a2ea9e60c86cf7af1a4d18258355bedec0..08914bbcae7e1a359b8f9ff207c26d04fed8ab25 100644
--- a/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager.go
+++ b/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager.go
@@ -50,6 +50,16 @@ func (pwm *peerWantManager) addPeer(p peer.ID) {
 
 // RemovePeer removes a peer and its associated wants from tracking
 func (pwm *peerWantManager) removePeer(p peer.ID) {
+	pws, ok := pwm.peerWants[p]
+	if !ok {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Decrement the gauge by the number of pending want-blocks to the peer
+	for range pws.wantBlocks.Keys() {
+		pwm.wantBlockGauge.Dec()
+	}
+
 	delete(pwm.peerWants, p)
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager_test.go b/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager_test.go
index 9cfa9410fdacb0f657dab248ea7716106e6a45fa..a56df168a2e75ab0e041cc52b5d138d4d36a1624 100644
--- a/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager_test.go
+++ b/internal/peermanager/peerwantmanager_test.go
@@ -289,4 +289,10 @@ func TestStats(t *testing.T) {
 	if g.count != 3 {
 		t.Fatal("Expected 3 want-blocks", g.count)
 	}
+
+	pwm.removePeer(p0)
+
+	if g.count != 0 {
+		t.Fatal("Expected all want-blocks to be removed with peer", g.count)
+	}
 }