diff --git a/requests_html.py b/requests_html.py
index ee2f6b2..5081a01 100644
--- a/requests_html.py
+++ b/requests_html.py
@@ -123,12 +123,27 @@ class BaseParser:
             return elements
 
     def xpath(self, selector: str, first: bool = False, _encoding: str = None):
-        """Given an XPath selector, returns a list of :class:`Element <Element>` objects.
+        """Given an XPath selector, returns a list of
+        :class:`Element <Element>` objects.
 
-        See W3School's `XPath Examples <https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xpath_examples.asp>`_ for more details.
+        If a sub-selector is specified (e.g. ``//a/@href``), a simple
+        list of results is returned.
+
+        See W3School's `XPath Examples
+        <https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xpath_examples.asp>`_
+        for more details.
+
+        If ``first`` is ``True``, only returns the first
+        :class:`Element <Element>` found.
+        """
+        selected = self.lxml.xpath(selector)
+        try:
+            c = [Element(element=e, url=self.url, default_encoding=_encoding or self.encoding) for e in selected]
+            # Sanity check.
+            [e.keys for e in c]
+        except AttributeError:
+            c = selected
 
-        If ``first`` is ``True``, only returns the first :class:`Element <Element>` found."""
-        c = [Element(element=e, url=self.url, default_encoding=_encoding or self.encoding) for e in self.lxml.xpath(selector)]
         if first:
             try:
                 return c[0]