On Sunday they beat Everton away at Goodison Park 3-1 to finish on 34 points, a result that moved them up to 18th in the final table, but was not good enough to maintain their five-year stay in the top-flight of English football.
That is because Aston Villa got the point they needed against West Ham to move them to 35 points, ensuring they would stay in the division for a further season.
However, it was an earlier game featuring Villa that is at the heart of Bournemouth’s case.
In the first match after the resumption of football following the coronavirus outbreak on June 17th, they were entertaining Sheffield United at Villa Park. In the 42nd minute, United had a free kick on the left-side of the Villa penalty area, which Oliver Norwood took.
His cross deceived Orjan Nyland in the Villa goal and appeared to cross the goal line before he hurriedly clawed it back again. For the millions watching at home it was clearly a goal, and the United players raised their arms in celebration.
However, the referee, Michael Oliver, refused to give the goal because he did not receive a signal that the ball had crossed the line.
Despite having seven cameras focused on the goal, the Hawk Eye technology system failed to pick up what had happened because their views were obstructed either by the goalkeeper, or by the goalposts itself. And VAR refused to intervene even though numerous TV replays showed what had happened because of the unique circumstances of what had happened.
Later the company behind the technology unreservedly apologised, saying that it was clearly a goal, and that it was the first time in more than 9,000 games that there had been such a failure.
However, because the game subsequently ended in a goalless draw, that ultimately proved to be the point that kept Villa up. Without it, Bournemouth and Villa would have finished the season level on points, and Bournemouth would have stayed up on goal difference.
Sheffield United are not affected. They finished in 9th and would stay there, even if awarded the extra two points.
Bournemouths appeal is likely to fail because of the laws of the game that state that a result is not automatically invalidated because of a technology failure.
However, given the potential financial implications between playing in the Premier League and the Championship, the South Coast side may still think it worth pursuing.