diff --git a/roles/kubernetes-apps/efk/fluentd/templates/fluentd-ds.yml.j2 b/roles/kubernetes-apps/efk/fluentd/templates/fluentd-ds.yml.j2
index e0506026f..1c6657c43 100644
--- a/roles/kubernetes-apps/efk/fluentd/templates/fluentd-ds.yml.j2
+++ b/roles/kubernetes-apps/efk/fluentd/templates/fluentd-ds.yml.j2
@@ -11,16 +11,21 @@ metadata:
     version: "{{ fluentd_version }}"
     addonmanager.kubernetes.io/mode: Reconcile
 spec:
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      k8s-app: fluentd-es
+      version: "{{ fluentd_version }}"
   template:
     metadata:
       labels:
         k8s-app: fluentd-es
         kubernetes.io/cluster-service: "true"
         version: "{{ fluentd_version }}"
-    spec:
-      tolerations:
-        - effect: NoSchedule
-          operator: Exists
+      # This annotation ensures that fluentd does not get evicted if the node
+      # supports critical pod annotation based priority scheme.
+      # Note that this does not guarantee admission on the nodes (#40573).
+      annotations:
+        scheduler.alpha.kubernetes.io/critical-pod: ''
       containers:
       - name: fluentd-es
         image: "{{ fluentd_image_repo }}:{{ fluentd_image_tag }}"