diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/base.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/base.py
index 36c46a81c0..cd60e4fe25 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/base.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/base.py
@@ -1435,6 +1435,11 @@ class Guide(object):
     def remove(self, type):
         return self.refs.pop(type, None)
 
+    def remove_by_href(self, href):
+        remove = [r for r, i in self.refs.iteritems() if i.href == href]
+        for r in remove:
+            self.remove(r)
+
     def iterkeys(self):
         for type in self.refs:
             yield type
diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/metadata.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/metadata.py
index dbbdeb3c52..640da6685e 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/metadata.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/oeb/transforms/metadata.py
@@ -144,44 +144,59 @@ class MergeMetadata(object):
             # The amazon formats dont support html cover pages, so remove them
             # even if no cover was specified.
             self.oeb.guide.remove('titlepage')
+        do_remove_old_cover = False
         if old_cover is not None:
             if old_cover.href in self.oeb.manifest.hrefs:
                 item = self.oeb.manifest.hrefs[old_cover.href]
                 if not cdata:
                     return item.id
-                self.remove_old_cover(item)
+                do_remove_old_cover = True
             elif not cdata:
                 id = self.oeb.manifest.generate(id='cover')[0]
                 self.oeb.manifest.add(id, old_cover.href, 'image/jpeg')
                 return id
+        new_cover_item = None
         if cdata:
             id, href = self.oeb.manifest.generate('cover', 'cover.'+ext)
-            self.oeb.manifest.add(id, href, guess_type('cover.'+ext)[0], data=cdata)
+            new_cover_item = self.oeb.manifest.add(id, href, guess_type('cover.'+ext)[0], data=cdata)
             self.oeb.guide.add('cover', 'Cover', href)
+        if do_remove_old_cover:
+            self.remove_old_cover(item, new_cover_item.href)
         return id
 
-    def remove_old_cover(self, cover_item):
-        from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import XPath
+    def remove_old_cover(self, cover_item, new_cover_href=None):
+        from calibre.ebooks.oeb.base import XPath, XLINK
         from lxml import etree
 
         self.oeb.manifest.remove(cover_item)
 
         # Remove any references to the cover in the HTML
         affected_items = set()
-        for item in self.oeb.spine:
+        xp = XPath('//h:img[@src]|//svg:image[@xl:href]')
+        for i, item in enumerate(self.oeb.spine):
             try:
-                images = XPath('//h:img[@src]')(item.data)
+                images = xp(item.data)
             except Exception:
                 images = ()
             removed = False
             for img in images:
+                href = img.get('src') or img.get(XLINK('href'))
                 try:
-                    href = item.abshref(img.get('src'))
+                    href = item.abshref(href)
                 except Exception:
                     continue  # Invalid URL, ignore
                 if href == cover_item.href:
-                    img.getparent().remove(img)
-                    removed = True
+                    if new_cover_href is not None:
+                        replacement_href = item.relhref(new_cover_href)
+                        attr = 'src' if img.tag.endswith('img') else XLINK('href')
+                        img.set(attr, replacement_href)
+                    else:
+                        p = img.getparent()
+                        if p.tag.endswith('}svg'):
+                            p.getparent().remove(p)
+                        else:
+                            p.remove(img)
+                        removed = True
             if removed:
                 affected_items.add(item)
 
@@ -198,3 +213,4 @@ class MergeMetadata(object):
                         ' the cover image'%item.href)
                 self.oeb.spine.remove(item)
                 self.oeb.manifest.remove(item)
+                self.oeb.guide.remove_by_href(item.href)