diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1738f9de3..d3deb864a 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1148,7 +1148,6 @@
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.coding.CovariantEqualsCheck</pattern><branchRate>95</branchRate><lineRate>96</lineRate></regex>
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.coding.DeclarationOrderCheck</pattern><branchRate>82</branchRate><lineRate>93</lineRate></regex>
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.coding.DefaultComesLastCheck</pattern><branchRate>87</branchRate><lineRate>100</lineRate></regex>
-            <regex><pattern>.*.checks.coding.EqualsAvoidNullCheck</pattern><branchRate>79</branchRate><lineRate>100</lineRate></regex>
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.coding.ExplicitInitializationCheck</pattern><branchRate>91</branchRate><lineRate>97</lineRate></regex>
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.coding.FallThroughCheck</pattern><branchRate>90</branchRate><lineRate>97</lineRate></regex>
             <regex><pattern>.*.checks.coding.FinalLocalVariableCheck</pattern><branchRate>82</branchRate><lineRate>100</lineRate></regex>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheck.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheck.java
index 892ec076b..2f3ec751b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheck.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheck.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 package com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.checks.coding;
 
-import antlr.collections.AST;
 import com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.api.Check;
 import com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.api.DetailAST;
 import com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.api.TokenTypes;
@@ -110,7 +109,12 @@ public class EqualsAvoidNullCheck extends Check {
 
     @Override
     public int[] getAcceptableTokens() {
-        return new int[] {TokenTypes.METHOD_CALL};
+        return getDefaultTokens();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int[] getRequiredTokens() {
+        return getDefaultTokens();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -130,19 +134,30 @@ public class EqualsAvoidNullCheck extends Check {
         final DetailAST expr = dot.getNextSibling().getFirstChild();
 
         if ("equals".equals(method.getText())
-            && containsOneArg(expr) && containsAllSafeTokens(expr)) {
+            && containsOneArgument(methodCall) && containsAllSafeTokens(expr)) {
             log(methodCall.getLineNo(), methodCall.getColumnNo(),
                 MSG_EQUALS_AVOID_NULL);
         }
 
         if (!ignoreEqualsIgnoreCase
             && "equalsIgnoreCase".equals(method.getText())
-            && containsOneArg(expr) && containsAllSafeTokens(expr)) {
+            && containsOneArgument(methodCall) && containsAllSafeTokens(expr)) {
             log(methodCall.getLineNo(), methodCall.getColumnNo(),
                 MSG_EQUALS_IGNORE_CASE_AVOID_NULL);
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Verify that method call has one argument.
+     *
+     * @param methodCall METHOD_CALL DetailAST
+     * @return true if method call has one argument.
+     */
+    private static boolean containsOneArgument(DetailAST methodCall) {
+        final DetailAST elist = methodCall.findFirstToken(TokenTypes.ELIST);
+        return elist.getChildCount() == 1;
+    }
+
     /**
      * checks for calling equals on String literal and
      * anon object which cannot be null
@@ -158,40 +173,6 @@ public class EqualsAvoidNullCheck extends Check {
                 || objCalledOn.getType() == TokenTypes.DOT;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Checks if a method contains no arguments
-     * starting at with the argument expression.
-     *
-     * @param expr the argument expression
-     * @return true if the method contains no args, false if not
-     */
-    private boolean containsNoArgs(final AST expr) {
-        return expr == null;
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Checks if a method contains multiple arguments
-     * starting at with the argument expression.
-     *
-     * @param expr the argument expression
-     * @return true if the method contains multiple args, false if not
-     */
-    private boolean containsMultiArgs(final AST expr) {
-        final AST comma = expr.getNextSibling();
-        return comma != null && comma.getType() == TokenTypes.COMMA;
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Checks if a method contains a single argument
-     * starting at with the argument expression.
-     *
-     * @param expr the argument expression
-     * @return true if the method contains a single arg, false if not
-     */
-    private boolean containsOneArg(final AST expr) {
-        return !containsNoArgs(expr) && !containsMultiArgs(expr);
-    }
-
     /**
      * <p>
      * Looks for all "safe" Token combinations in the argument
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheckTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheckTest.java
index e63e1acbd..0f2bbe310 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheckTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/coding/EqualsAvoidNullCheckTest.java
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ public class EqualsAvoidNullCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
             "75:27: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_IGNORE_CASE_AVOID_NULL),
             "77:27: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_IGNORE_CASE_AVOID_NULL),
             "79:27: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_IGNORE_CASE_AVOID_NULL),
+            "225:24: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_AVOID_NULL),
+            "227:34: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_IGNORE_CASE_AVOID_NULL),
         };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("coding" + File.separator + "InputEqualsAvoidNull.java"), expected);
     }
@@ -85,6 +87,7 @@ public class EqualsAvoidNullCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
             "63:17: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_AVOID_NULL),
             "65:17: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_AVOID_NULL),
             "67:17: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_AVOID_NULL),
+            "225:24: " + getCheckMessage(MSG_EQUALS_AVOID_NULL),
         };
         verify(checkConfig, getPath("coding" + File.separator + "InputEqualsAvoidNull.java"), expected);
     }
diff --git a/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/coding/InputEqualsAvoidNull.java b/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/coding/InputEqualsAvoidNull.java
index 3f3cec4e4..2fc959ec9 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/coding/InputEqualsAvoidNull.java
+++ b/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/coding/InputEqualsAvoidNull.java
@@ -188,15 +188,43 @@ public class InputEqualsAvoidNull {
 
         new String().equalsIgnoreCase("more cheese");
 
-
     }
 
 }
 
 class InputEqualsAvoidNullOutter {
     public class InputEqualsAvoidNullInner {
-	public boolean equals(Object o) {
-	    return true;
-	}
+    	public boolean equals(Object o) {
+    	    return true;
+    	}
+    }
+}
+
+class MyString {
+    public boolean equals() {
+        return true;
+    }
+    
+    public boolean equals(String s1) {
+        return true;
+    }
+    
+    public boolean equalsIgnoreCase() {
+        return true;
+    }
+    
+    public boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String s1) {
+        return true;
+    }
+    
+    private String pizza;
+    
+    public void main() {
+        MyString myString = new MyString();
+        myString.equals();
+        myString.equals("what");
+        myString.equalsIgnoreCase();
+        myString.equalsIgnoreCase("what");
+        myString.equals(this.pizza = "cold pizza");
     }
 }