Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez said he was disappointed that his side could not beat Aston Villa on Saturday, as their Premier League fate is now out of their hands.
After a 0-0 draw with already-relegated Villa, Sunderland's 3-2 victory at home to Chelsea means that Newcastle slipped back into the relegation zone. They are one point and one game behind the Black Cats, who can relegate their rivals with a win over Everton on Wednesday.
"It's bad, but simple," said Benitez. "We have to wait and then after try to win, depending on what they do during the week.
"`If it goes to the last one then we have to fight to get the three points and see what happens.
"Everyone is disappointed, but this is normal. The only thing you can say is try to be ready, in training and recovery, for next week because we have to play one game and we have to get three points."
Benitez saw his team create the better chances at Villa Park but Newcastle were wasteful in front of goal, most notably in the second half through Jack Colback and Aleksandar Mitrovic -- who also went very close to breaking the deadlock with a header.
The former Liverpool and Real Madrid manager felt his players began the game too nervous.
He said: "I think that we didn't play well [in the first half] because maybe there was too much anxiety. The players were too tense and we couldn't do what we wanted to.
"In the second half we were better, there was a reaction and we created some chances and were pushing and pushing but when you have so many people behind the ball you can't find a clear chance and when you are under pressure you make more mistakes.
"We knew [the Sunderland score] in the second half and we were better in the second half. We had the chances of Mitrovic and Colback. It is a pity but it was not enough.
"It was an opportunity to stay ahead of Sunderland and we couldn't do it. Now we have to be ready for the weekend, and that's it."
Aleksandar Mitrovic, who came on to replace the ineffective Papiss Cisse, added: "We had our chances but we didn't score. It's a bad result for us.
"I should have scored but I didn't. I didn't follow the game but I think Sunderland had very good news. We need to win our game and wait to see what they do. We'll see.
"They [Villa] were so defensive, they didn't want to score goals. I don't know why they played like this but we had our chances and should have won the game. We still have a chance."
Villa Park bid farewell to top-flight football for the first time since 1987 and at least Eric Black's team avoided the indignity of setting a new club record of 12 successive league defeats.
Despite defeat at Watford last week, Black felt the performance went some way to helping to repair the fractured relationship with the club's supporters -- and the caretaker boss thought the stalemate with Newcastle was another small step in the right direction.
He said: "I think last week we edged closer. We spoke all week about the supporters, because next season this club is going to need them, and at Watford with the performance I thought we edged towards them and again today I think we took another step.
"The supporters today were breathtaking and I think the players responded, played for the jersey and worked tirelessly.
"We had to try to get the supporters back on side before the end of this season, for the start of next season, because the atmosphere they create is pretty close to the 12th man. We need them and I think the players deserve credit for taking these little steps back towards them under difficult conditions.
"The hope is that some of these supporters come back with slightly more optimism than they would have done going away with several home defeats. It's a very small step but it's a start, [we have] got to build something."
Information from Press Association was used in this report.