diff --git a/src/RestSharp/RestClient.Serialization.cs b/src/RestSharp/RestClient.Serialization.cs
index 658e53091..5e3005973 100644
--- a/src/RestSharp/RestClient.Serialization.cs
+++ b/src/RestSharp/RestClient.Serialization.cs
@@ -55,10 +55,10 @@ internal RestResponse<T> Deserialize<T>(RestRequest request, RestResponse raw) {
             // to a transport or framework exception.  HTTP errors should attempt to
             // be deserialized
             if (response.Content != null) {
-                var handler = GetContentDeserializer(raw, request.RequestFormat);
-
                 // Only continue if there is a handler defined else there is no way to deserialize the data.
                 // This can happen when a request returns for example a 404 page instead of the requested JSON/XML resource
+                var handler = GetContentDeserializer(raw, request.RequestFormat);
+                
                 if (handler is IXmlDeserializer xml && request is RestXmlRequest xmlRequest) {
                     if (xmlRequest.XmlNamespace.IsNotEmpty()) xml.Namespace = xmlRequest.XmlNamespace!;
 
diff --git a/src/RestSharp/RestClientExtensions.Json.cs b/src/RestSharp/RestClientExtensions.Json.cs
index 681245f5d..6dd7b8dee 100644
--- a/src/RestSharp/RestClientExtensions.Json.cs
+++ b/src/RestSharp/RestClientExtensions.Json.cs
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public static partial class RestClientExtensions {
         TRequest          request,
         CancellationToken cancellationToken = default
     ) where TRequest : class {
-        var restRequest = new RestRequest().AddJsonBody(request);
+        var restRequest = new RestRequest(resource).AddJsonBody(request);
         return client.PostAsync<TResponse>(restRequest, cancellationToken);
     }
 
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public static async Task<HttpStatusCode> PostJsonAsync<TRequest>(
         TRequest          request,
         CancellationToken cancellationToken = default
     ) where TRequest : class {
-        var restRequest = new RestRequest().AddJsonBody(request);
+        var restRequest = new RestRequest(resource).AddJsonBody(request);
         var response    = await client.PostAsync(restRequest, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
         return response.StatusCode;
     }
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ public static async Task<HttpStatusCode> PutJsonAsync<TRequest>(
         TRequest          request,
         CancellationToken cancellationToken = default
     ) where TRequest : class {
-        var restRequest = new RestRequest().AddJsonBody(request);
+        var restRequest = new RestRequest(resource).AddJsonBody(request);
         var response    = await client.PutAsync(restRequest, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
         return response.StatusCode;
     }