Bournemouth's five-year stay in the Premier League came to an end on Sunday afternoon.

Eddie Howe's men were sure to go out on their shield with an impressive 3-1 win at Everton, but Aston Villa securing a point away to West Ham United was enough to send them down.

However, just because the Premier League table has confirmed Bournemouth's plunge from the top flight, that doesn't mean that the competition has heard the last of them.

Goal-line technology drama

Fans were keen to point out that Villa staying up and Bournemouth going down raises serious questions about an incident that occurred in the very first game back from lockdown.

It's almost been a decade since goal-line technology was first implemented in the Premier League, but the equipment made its first error in spectacular fashion during Villa vs Sheffield United.

The Blades were denied what was frankly a clear and obvious goal when Villa shot-stopper Orjan Nyland carried Oliver Norwood's free-kick over his own goal-line during the first-half.

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Could Bournemouth have been saved?

However, despite Nyland literally leaning into the net behind his own post with the ball in his hand, the goal-line technology did not send the correct notification to referee Michael Oliver's watch.

Of course, Sheffield United were wrongly denied a goal and therefore, it could be hypothesised that they would have won the game had everything been working correctly in Birmingham.

A defeat for Villa would potentially mean that they would have finished the season on 34 points, which is the same tally as Bournemouth, with the margin of the loss deciding who went down.

And astonishingly, talkSPORT learnt on Tuesday morning that Bournemouth are considering taking legal action against Hawk-Eye, the company behind the technology, because of the episode. 

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Hawk-Eye apologised in June

The company publicly apologised at the time, by saying: "During the first half of Aston Villa vs Sheffield United match at Villa Park, there was a goal line incident where the ball was carried over the line by Aston Villa goalkeeper, No 25 Nyland.

"The match officials did not receive a signal to the watch nor earpiece as per Goal Decision System (GDS) protocol.

"The seven cameras located in the stands around the oak area were significantly occluded by the goalkeeper, defender and goalpost.

"This level of occlusion has never been seen before in over 9,000 matches that the Hawk-Eye Goal Line Technology system has been in operation.

"The system was tested and proved functional prior to the start of the match in accordance with the IFAB Laws of the Game and confirmed as working by match officials. 

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What now for Bournemouth?

"The system has remained functional throughout. Hawk-Eye unreservedly apologises to the Premier League, Sheffield United, and everyone affected by this incident."

Whether or not Bournemouth will proceed with legal action remains to be seen and so do the potential ramifications if the Cherries were able to enjoy any success against Hawk-Eye.

Either way, though, it goes to show that the difference between survival and relegation can be something as crazy as something with 9,000-1 odds.

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