Rico Henry believes that the increased attacking freedom granted to him when playing wing-back suits his game.

Henry provided the assist for Brentford’s second goal against Tottenham Hotspur, driving down the left and crossing for Yoane Wissa who fired home via a deflection.

And the defender, who registered two assists and created five big chances last season, revealed that he is keen to bolster his attacking numbers this term.

“We played a back five, so I knew I’d get chances to go forward and that’s what I did,” said Henry following the 2-2 draw at Gtech Community Stadium.

“It was a good first game and good to get the cobwebs off. The gaffer always tell me to make the back stick, win the balls from the opposite side and be the outlet when the ball is in the middle. That’s what I have to do, as well as tracking back and defending.”

“It was a deep free-kick,” Henry continued when asked about his involvement in Wissa’s goal.

“Kris [Ajer] put it over the top; he’d made eye contact so I knew it was coming. There was space in front of me, I took it past him and Wissa finished it off. It was a good start.

“I saw Wissa drop off, the defender dropped in, and I picked him out.”

While Brentford were forced to share the points following Emerson Royal's equaliser in first-half stoppage-time, Henry was satisfied with the Bees' performance on the opening day.

“I thought it was positive,” he said. “We created chances and should have put away a couple more.

“It was a good start. We started on the front foot and were unlucky to go a goal down, but we came back and it was an equal point in the end. We could have scored more.

“It was difficult for us because they kept the ball well with [James] Maddison and [Yves] Bissouma in the middle. There wasn’t much we could do to get forward until we got the ball and tried to hit them on the counter attack, which we did a couple of times.”