diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/injectedScript.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/injectedScript.ts
index a36353378073e..0febe508bb2ca 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/injectedScript.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/server/injected/injectedScript.ts
@@ -1129,7 +1129,7 @@ class ExpectedTextMatcher {
   private normalizeWhiteSpace(s: string | undefined): string | undefined {
     if (!s)
       return s;
-    return this._normalizeWhiteSpace ? s.trim().replace(/\s+/g, ' ') : s;
+    return this._normalizeWhiteSpace ? s.trim().replace(/\u200b/g, '').replace(/\s+/g, ' ') : s;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/playwright.expect.text.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/playwright.expect.text.spec.ts
index b4d1a882726de..7fec79d5701f3 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/playwright.expect.text.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/playwright.expect.text.spec.ts
@@ -88,6 +88,8 @@ test('should support toHaveText w/ text', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
         const locator = page.locator('#node');
         // Should normalize whitespace.
         await expect(locator).toHaveText('Text                        content');
+        // Should normalize zero width whitespace.
+        await expect(locator).toHaveText('T\u200be\u200bx\u200bt content');
       });
 
       test('pass contain', async ({ page }) => {