Brentford striker Ollie Watkins has opened up on his transition from a winger into a striker over the course of this season - one which is going very well for him.

During the 2018/19 campaign he was deployed predominantly as a winger, with Neal Maupay taking up the central role in the favoured Brentford front three.

But with the Frenchman having moved on to Brighton during the summer window, manager Thomas Frank has tasked Watkins with filling the void.

However, the 24 year-old insistst that it is a role he is actually better suited to.

QUIZ: How much do you know about Brentford’s January signings?

"Before I'd gone to Brentford I had not really played as a winger," he said in an interview with Talksport.

"I would say my best position before was probably as a second striker, attacking midfielder was probably right.

"But I'm a striker now. I'm going with that. I've done well this year and I am not sure someone who is not a striker can play there and score that amount of goals."

So far this season he has netted 19 goals in 29 Championship games, only Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic has as many, and it has helped Brentford into a very healthy position.

They currently sit in fifth place and just five points behind the automatic promotion places and second-placed Leeds United.

The verdict

I often find it slightly strange how much has been made of this positional change for Ollie Watkins.

He still scored ten times in the second tier last season from outwide so clearly had that knack of being in the right place at the right time. But all the same, fair play to Thomas Frank for following through with the switch.

It has allowed that Brentford attacking unit to become even stronger than it once was with a more out and out winger in Bryan Mbeumo currently flourishing in the starting XI.