“We’re still fighting for our lives. I don’t really want to think about what it would take to put relegation to bed. We’ve got to keep pushing, so not even a win against Liverpool would make us safe.
“There’s no doubt the Europa League had an effect on us. I think clubs will look at us at the impact that it can have, not only with the extra games but the injuries we’ve had on the back of that.
“If we have to take criticism for making sure we played hard in that competition, then we have to accept that. It’s affected our league form.”
Newcastle also have games against West Ham, QPR and Arsenal to come and Pardew probably needs one more win before he can start planning for next season in the Premier League.
That West Bromwich Albion are not even entertaining thoughts of relegation is proof of their growth as a club, with Steve Clarke impressively building on the foundations established by Roy Hodgson.
Albion could have been out of sight by half-time here, however, and Newcastle had only Yoan Gouffran’s early header to show for their dominance.
But Clarke, who is set to be offered a new contract this summer, made attacking changes at half-time and they levelled through Billy Jones and could even have won it.
Jones will now be the subject of pub quizzes across the country after becoming the first Englishman to score for West Brom this season.
“I was aware of that statistic and it’s nice to take the crown,” he said.
“It was me and Liam Ridgwwell vying for it, I think we thought it would go down to penalties in the end. Then we’d have tossed a coin to see what happened.”
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