For 23 minutes on Saturday Villa were down before Jason Puncheon's 68th-minute winner for Crystal Palace against Norwich earned the Premier League's bottom club a temporary stay of execution.
Aston Villa scored their first goal in seven hours and 36 minutes - an unsuccessful challenge by Joshua King allowing Idrissa Gueye to set up Jordan Ayew.
Fans were in an unforgiving mood as the fractured relationship between home players and supporters continued.
There were thousands of empty seats at kick-off as some supporters chose to miss the first seven minutes in protest - seven being the number of times Villa have been champions of England.
Towards the end, other home fans were spotted waving white handkerchiefs - a sign of surrender - after another poor, careless performance.
Villa, who desperately needed a positive display to appease their disgruntled fans, set up to contain the Cherries yet were picked off at ease.
Bournemouth pass 40 points
Villa gave a full Premier League debut to 20-year-old midfielder Jordan Lyden - though he lasted only 45 minutes before being replaced at the start of the second half.
Fans made their feelings known to Villa's players and owner Randy Lerner, who was not present
By then the match was already as good as over for Villa following another performance in which they lacked leadership, character, fight and had only one shot on target.
In contrast, Bournemouth, who welcomed back forward Callum Wilson after a serious knee injury, were bright and breezy.
Lewis Grabban forced a full-length save from Brad Guzan before Cook's finish from a short corner on the stroke of half-time gave them the lead.
The Cherries doubled their lead when Ciaran Clark was robbed by King, who went on to finish smartly - and although Villa went on to score a first goal in over seven and a half hours, the visitors held on comfortably.
Bournemouth were tipped for relegation at the stat of the season yet they are challenging for a top-half finish after reaching 41 points with five games left.
Man of the match - Joshua King (Bournemouth)
Joshua King has hit form at a crucial stage of the season. Having netted in wins over Newcastle and Swansea, the former Manchester United youngster made it three in five games with a sublime finish after dispossessing Ciaran Clark.
What they said
Aston Villa caretaker manager Eric Black, speaking to BBC Sport: "Not going down today is a small consolation. We've conceded poor goals, but we have to remain professional until the end.
"We didn't create as many chances as we would have liked. Ultimately, if you concede poor goals it will be hard to score.
"I'm sure it's not easy to play in that atmosphere, but there have only been two or three victories here this season so I won't be criticising the supporters.
"They turned out again today, which I find remarkable. This is certainly not down to the supporters."
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe, tells BBC Sport: "This was really important for us. It was very nervy from both teams but I thought we dominated the ball and deserved it in the end.
"It was a difficult game to play in because of the toxic atmosphere. We made it that way with the way we started."
Stats you need to know
Villa have made more errors leading to goals than any other side in the Premier League this season (14).
Steve Cook has scored four Premier League goals this season - the only defender with more is Scott Dann (5).
Joshua King has scored five times for Bournemouth this season - he managed just five league goals in three seasons in the Championship with Blackburn.
Jordan Ayew scored his first Premier League goal since December, ending a run of 10 games without scoring.
Up next
Villa's relegation will be confirmed if they fail to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford next Saturday - something they have not done since 2009.
Louis Suarez scored a brace for Barcelona to give the Catalan team the edge against Atletico-Madrid in the all Spanish quarter final of the Champions League.
The Uruguayan was the man of the moment as he bundled the first home in the 63rd minute before doubling up in the 74th with a bullet header.
Fernando Torres slid home to give Atletico a precious away goal before he was sent off after receiving two yellow cards.
Bayern Munich played host to Benfica Arturo Vidal was a man in a hurry after he headed home after two minutes in for the Germans match at the Allianz Arena.
The visitors could have snatched a draw when Jonas’ second-half strike was blocked by Javi Martinez.
The goal will give the Bavarian outfit a slender lead and plenty to play for the rematch to be held in Lisbon in eight days.
Tighter security along Turkey’s coast is a key factor behind a sharp fall in the number of migrants arriving in Greece under the EU’s deal with Ankara.
Three days after the agreement came into force, new arrivals on the Greek islands from Turkey dropped to 68 in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning from 225 the previous day, data from the Greek migration ministry showed.
One of those intercepted by the Turkish coastguard and brought back to Dikili in Turkey was Khodor Hosary, a Palestinian man living in Lebanon.
“I applied for a passport in Lebanon. I am Palestinian and I am not allowed to live or work (there). You know, the Palestinian crisis in Lebanon. We don’t have a country or a land,” he said.
“Why are they doing this to us? We have been humiliated. We almost died. We had children travelling with us.”
Anger is also simmering on the Greek islands where asylum applications are piling up as migrants and refugeesseek to avoid deportation to Turkey under the agreement.
After a break out from a holding centre on Chios, hundreds of migrants and refugees are sleeping rough at the port.
Some 202 people, the majority from Pakistan, have been returned from Greece since the deal was implemented on Monday. Up to 13 of those sent back are said to have intended to apply for asylum.
Also intent on applying for asylum is Abdul Wahid Dar from Pakistan, one of those now gathered at the Chios port.
Showing papers to reporters, he voiced his fears at the threat of deportation.
“I think all the dreams will be broken if this happens because we came here, we spent a lot of money for this.”
Deportations from Greece have been suspended since Monday, with authorities overwhelmed by the spike in asylum claims.
On the Greek island of Lesbos, Ali, 22, from Pakistan, said:
“They sent back two guys and they committed suicide. They put a rope around their necks and hanged themselves. If we go back we won’t be able to handle life. Some people have sold their homes. If they are taken back, they will die. What will they do?”
US Republican front-runner Donald Trump has dropped his pledge to support the party candidate if he does not win the nomination for the November election.
Mr Trump's rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, refused to say outright whether they would unite behind a nominee.
All the Republican candidates signed a loyalty pledge last November.
It is the latest sign of friction between Mr Trump and Mr Cruz, who have been embroiled in a dispute involving each other's wives.
A committee supporting Mr Cruz published a nude photo of Mr Trump's wife Melania from 2000. In retaliation, Mr Trump tweeted an unflattering picture of Mr Cruz's wife Heidi.
Mr Trump claims he has been "treated very unfairly" by Republican party leaders - some have expressed disquiet or downright opposition to him winning the nomination.
To a question about whether he maintained his loyalty pledge from last November, Mr Trump said: "No, I do not any more."
Earlier, when asked the same question, Mr Cruz did not give a direct answer but said: "I am not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my family."
Mr Trump later replied, saying he did not need Mr Cruz's support. "I have tremendous support right now from the people."
The billionaire has been repeatedly criticised by his rivals and observers for a campaign that has included personal attacks at rivals and criticism and violence against protesters.
Police said Mr Lewandowski grabbed former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields' arm when she tried to ask Mr Trump a question, leaving a bruise.
Despite the numerous recent controversies surrounding him, Mr Trump is currently well ahead in the Republican race with 739 delegates to Mr Cruz's 465.
Mr Kasich is some way behind with 143, with the 1,237 needed to win the nomination probably out of his reach.
The three candidates have campaigned in Wisconsin ahead of next Tuesday's primary there.
In a statement, Zaman said the country was going through its "darkest and gloomiest days in terms of freedom of the press".
It expressed "deep concern" at the latest court order - the culmination of pressure for more than two years on Turkey's "highest circulating newspaper, Zaman, and its sister publication Today's Zaman". It said the pressure had been through "accreditation bans, tax inspections, meddling with its advertisers and threats to its readers".
Editor-in-chief Sevgi Akarcesme told Reuters news agency this was "the practical end of media freedom in Turkey".
"The media has always been under pressure, but it has never been so blatant," she said.
Steamrolling over rights
Dozens of supporters gathered outside the paper's Istanbul headquarters after the announcement of the court decision.
One held a placard saying, "We will fight for a free press."
"A free and independent media, together with the rule of law and independent judiciary, are the cornerstones of internationally guaranteed freedoms which are the right of everyone in Turkey," he said.
The move against Zaman comes days after Turkey's Constitutional Court ordered the release from detention of two Turkish journalists charged with revealing state secrets.
Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, from the newspaper Cumhuriyet, were detained in November over a report alleging that the Turkish government tried to ship arms to Islamists in Syria.
The pair still face possible life sentences at their trial on 25 March.
Two newspapers and two television channels were put under state administration last year over their alleged links with the Hizmet movement.
The Turkish government has accused Mr Gulen, Hizmet's spiritual leader, of trying to run a parallel state.
On Friday, state-run Anadolu news agency said police had detained four senior officials of a company linked to Mr Gulen in the central city of Kayseri.
Turkey has asked the US to extradite Mr Gulen. The exiled cleric has allies in the Turkish police and judiciary, media and financial interests as well as a network of schools.
Hizmet movement
Inspired by the teachings of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the US
Gulen is a mainstream Sunni Hanafi Muslim scholar, influenced by Anatolian Sufism
There is no formal structure but Hizmet followers are numbered in the millions across more than 150 countries
First expanded into Central Asia after the USSR's demise in 1991
After thousands of years trapped beneath the ice, their young faces are still covered in fur. You can even make out the whiskers on their cheeks and the tips of their sharp retractable claws.
Named for the Siberian riverbank where they were found, Uyan and Dina are the most complete cave lion remains ever discovered. They could prove key to learning more about a species that became extinct over 12,000 years ago.
Over the summer of 2015, flooding along the Uyandina River exposed the ice lens where the cubs were buried. By a stroke of luck, a team of contractors was in the area collecting mammoth tusks. One worker, Yakov Androsov, spotted the remains through a crack in the ice.
Knowing they had uncovered the remains of a feline predator, Androsov immediately placed the cubs in a glacier to prevent thawing.
The cave lion once roamed everywhere from the British Isles to the Yukon in Canada
After so many years trapped in the harsh Siberian cold, the cubs are in surprisingly good condition.
"Their woolen cover, legs, tails, ears, eyes, and even moustaches were preserved," says Androsov.
While they cannot say for certain how old the remains are, Androsov says previous findings suggest they are more than 12,000 years old.
"The most likely cause of their death is a collapse of soil, which walled up the lion's den," says Androsov.
The cubs were probably between two and three weeks old when they died, as their baby teeth had not yet come through, according to Albert Protopopov, head of the Department of Mammoth Fauna Study at the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). They were the size of well-fed housecats, and he says it is unclear if they had opened their eyes for the first time.
Until now, everything we knew about cave lions came from Stone Age art and fossilised bones.
One of the largest feline predators of the ice ages, the cave lion made its way from Africa to Europe about 700,000 years ago, gradually spreading to most of North Eurasia. The size of a modern-day Siberian tiger, the cave lion once roamed everywhere from the British Isles to the Yukon in Canada.
Plans for a comprehensive study are underway, with scientists around the world eager to contribute. Aside from determining the cubs' exact age, Protopopov hopes the findings will shed light on their lifestyle, family connections and nutrition, as well as the origin of the species.
Valery Plotnikov, chief researcher at the Academy's Department of Mammoth Fauna Study, has planned a summer expedition to further explore the area where the cubs were found.
Light is what allows us to understand the world we live in. Our language reflects this: after groping in the dark, we see the light and understanding dawns.
Yet light is one of those things that we don't tend to understand. If you were to zoom in on a ray of light, what would you see? Sure, light travels incredibly fast, but what is it that's doing the travelling? Many of us would struggle to explain.
It doesn't have to be that way. Light certainly has puzzled the greatest minds for centuries, but landmark discoveries made over the last 150 years have robbed light of its mystery. We actually know, more or less, what it is.
Not only do today's physicists understand the nature of light, they are learning to control it with ever-greater precision – which means light could soon be put to work in surprising new ways. That is part of the reason why the United Nations designated 2015 as the International Year of Light.
