diff --git a/app/helpers/projects_helper.rb b/app/helpers/projects_helper.rb
index 7e5b214b1c7..c51b27ae24f 100644
--- a/app/helpers/projects_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/projects_helper.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ module ProjectsHelper
   def link_to_member_avatar(author, opts = {})
     default_opts = { avatar: true, name: true, size: 16, author_class: 'author', title: ":name" }
     opts = default_opts.merge(opts)
-    image_tag(avatar_icon(author, opts[:size]), width: opts[:size], class: ['avatar', 'avatar-inline', "#{"s#{opts[:size]}" if opts[:size]}", opts[:avatar_class]].reject(&:blank?), alt: '') if opts[:avatar]
+    classes = %w[avatar avatar-inline]
+    classes << "s#{opts[:size]}"
+    classes << opts[:avatar_class] if opts[:avatar_class]
+
+    image_tag(avatar_icon(author, opts[:size]), width: opts[:size], class: classes, alt: '') if opts[:avatar]
   end
 
   def link_to_member(project, author, opts = {}, &block)
diff --git a/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb
index 93a5b55e4d0..9a6fb4d6cb0 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/projects_helper_spec.rb
@@ -192,17 +192,20 @@ describe ProjectsHelper do
   end
 
   describe '#link_to_member_avatar' do
-    let(:user) { create(:user) }
+    let(:user) { build_stubbed(:user) }
 
     it 'returns image tag for member avatar' do
-      expect(helper.link_to_member_avatar(user)).to eq("<img width=\"16\" class=\"avatar avatar-inline s16  lazy\" alt=\"\" data-src=\"http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/a763e4acc6bc22cbabeae2638cfd4db4?s=32&amp;d=identicon\" src=\"data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" />")
+      allow(helper).to receive(:image_tag).with(nil, {width: 16, class: ["avatar", "avatar-inline", "s16"], alt: ""})
+      allow(helper).to receive(:avatar_icon).with(user, 16)
+
+      helper.link_to_member_avatar(user)
     end
   end
 
   describe '#link_to_member' do
-    let(:group)   { create(:group) }
-    let(:project) { create(:project, group: group) }
-    let(:user)    { create(:user) }
+    let(:group)   { build_stubbed(:group) }
+    let(:project) { build_stubbed(:project, group: group) }
+    let(:user)    { build_stubbed(:user) }
 
     describe 'using the default options' do
       it 'returns an HTML link to the user' do