Newcastle United supporters have been pretty despondent in the Transfer Tavern this week after seeing their side go down 3-1 to Premier League champions Chelsea on Saturday, in turn suffering a fifth league defeat in six games, and at the same time slipping to 15th in the table.

Rafa Benitez’s men went into their clash with the Blues off the back of drawing 2-2 with West Brom in midweek, a result which halted a run of four successive Premier League losses. Yet, despite taking the lead at Stamford Bridge through Dwight Gayle, the Magpies were unable to build on that point as a brace from Eden Hazard alongside an Alvaro Morata header sealed a comfortable victory for Antonio Conte’s side, in turn securing a tenth win of the campaign, and at the same time instigating Newcastle’s worrying fall to 15th in the Premier League table.

Subsequently, there have been many deflated and disappointed Magpies fans in the Tavern this week, many of whom are already turning their attentions towards their team’s crucial clash with Leicester City at St James’ Park on Saturday.

In the meantime though, there has been much for our resident Newcastle fans to discuss, not least recent reports linking winger Rolando Aarons with a move to Championship outfit Aston Villa.

The 22-year-old came up through the ranks at St James’ Park to make his senior debut for the club in their 2-0 defeat to Manchester City back in August 2014.

Since then, the former England Under-20 international has added 24 further first team appearances to his tally, yet he has struggled for gametime under Benitez this term, appearing only three times for the Magpies in all competitions.

And Aarons has since been linked with a move to Steve Bruce’s Villa, and were the 22-year-old to indeed make a move to the Midlands outfit, here are TWO other Newcastle stars who could follow him to Villa Park…

Karl Darlow

It has been a strange few weeks for Newcastle goalkeeper Karl Darlow, with one minute him behind Rob Elliot in the pecking order, the next he’s chosen between the sticks for matches against West Brom and Chelsea.

Nonetheless, signing a goalkeeper was clearly a priority for Benitez over the summer so it’s seems pretty evident that he’s not totally satisfied with his current options, even if both he and Elliot have done reasonably well this season.

And given that Darlow has already been linked with a move away in January, namely to Bruce’s Villa no less, it’s a move which could well take place in the New Year, especially if West Brom follow-through their reported interest in current Villans number one Sam Johnstone.

Dwight Gayle

Striker Dwight Gayle was preferred to Joselu as the lone forward in their defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, a game in which the Englishman bagged his second goal of the campaign.

However, it’s seems clear that the 28-year-old is not first-choice at St James’ Park given that he has only managed six league starts so far this term, and given his recent struggles with injury, Benitez may well be looking to offload the striker come the New Year.

And Villa could be the ideal destination for the 28-year-old, as Gayle has scored goals at Championship level before and within a side chasing promotion, which is something the Villans will be hoping to do in the second half of the season.