Everton secured their first victory at Arsenal since 1996 as an own goal from goalkeeper Bernd Leno gave them a 1-0 win.
The visitors started brightly, with Richarlison forcing a smart save from Leno before Gylfi Sigurdsson’s free-kick thumped back off the crossbar.
Eight minutes after the break, Arsenal were awarded a penalty when Richarlison fouled Dani Ceballos, but it was overturned by the Video Assistant Referee for Nicolas Pepe being offside in the build-up.
Everton took the lead on 76 minutes when Leno failed to deal with a low cross from Richarlison and fumbled the ball into his net.
Jordan Pickford produced a superb late save from Gabriel Martinelli as Everton completed their first Premier League double over Arsenal.
The Toffees are eighth on 52 points, one adrift of Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool and three points from fourth.
Arsenal are in ninth position on 46 points.
However, the action on the pitch did not rival the pre-match protests, which included fireworks that were missing for large parts of the match itself.
Much like Chelsea’s stalemate with Brighton on Tuesday, the contest was overshadowed by the actions of fans beforehand.
Thousands of Arsenal supporters amassed ahead of the Premier League fixture.
The relationship between fans and owner Stan Kroenke, tumultuous in recent years, worsened further still when the Gunners announced on Sunday they had signed up as one of the founding members of a breakaway European Super League.
The ill-will towards the new competition was so fierce that, just two days later, Arsenal – as well as fellow Premier League sides Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – all withdrew from the plans.
But the original decision only exacerbated the call from supporters for Kroenke to sell, and they amassed outside the Emirates to call for change.
An effigy of Kroenke hung from a lamp post as supporters let off flares and held up anti-Kroenke banners, chanting for his removal and also singing songs which would usually be heard in the stands.
The protests would continue after kick-off, with Spotify founder Daniel Ek tweeting he would “throw his hat in the ring” if the Kroenkes decided to sell up.
When the action started, the Gunners were denied a penalty by a tight VAR offside call, before gifting the points to their opponents.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, returning to the Everton side, flashed a header just wide before Bukayo Saka drew the first save from England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford at the other end.
Leno then made a good stop to deny Richarlison but needed the frame of his goal to come to his aid and keep out a Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick, which hit the top of the crossbar