A Premier League weekend with 25 goals and not a single 0-0 taught us that the 2019/20 season is going to be a particularly entertaining one, partly because the newly promoted clubs are looking to play on the front foot and partly because the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United have a chaotically attacking playing style under their respective inexperienced managers.

Both Frank Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are committed to expansive football but neither manager has worked out how to remain defensively sound, which means we should be set for one of the highest scoring – and most fun – seasons for several years.

Here are three tactical talking points from the weekend action:

1) Man Utd's entertaining football offers best and worst of Solskjaer at Molineaux

Solskjaer's very attacking 4-2-3-1 worked well for 45 minutes on Monday night thanks to a high press and the threat of their speed; fearful of Marcus Rashford's and Anthony Martial's runs in behind, Wolves dropped into a deep 5-3-2 shape early on that allowed Rashford to move into interesting spaces to the left of centre. He repeatedly popped up either behind Leander Dendoncker or on the outside of the three-man midfield to dictate the tempo, benefitting from the Wolves back line retreating too far from their central midfielders.

With Jesse Lingard dropping surprisingly deep to link the play, United swarmed their hosts and could have been more than 1-0 up at half-time had they managed to switch the play more frequently to Luke Shaw or Daniel James, the two players hugging the touchlines in order to stretch Wolves out of shape.

In the second half Nuno Espirito Santo instructed his players to be much bolder, sitting considerably higher up the pitch and pressing constantly. Adama Traore's introduction at right wing-back exposed the lack of cover from Rashford down that side of the pitch, while Wolves' assertiveness showed Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay is too light for a central midfield partnership. In short, here was the best and worst of Solskjaer's United: aggressive when on the front foot, but when attacked showing a soft underbelly.

2) Leicester provide a template for how to hurt wide-open Chelsea

Another game of two halves similarly showed that Chelsea's commitment to expansive football leaves them vulnerable defensively, but while United are weakest on the flanks Chelsea were alarmingly porous through central midfield.

Leicester City began the match with James Maddison and Ayoze Perez staying wide, probably because Brendan Rodgers thought N'Golo Kante and Jorginho would block out the middle, but in the second half Rodgers instructed Maddison and Perez to tuck right in and become auxiliary number tens. From here they ran the game, bursting through the heart of midfield repeatedly on the counter-attack thanks to Chelsea's complete lack of organisation in possession.

Chelsea are not compressed enough when the ball is lost, leaving a huge space between their defensive and attacking lines, with Frank Lampard seemingly allowing his players to roam freely across the pitch; they have no balanced shape on the ball, making them extremely vulnerable in the transitions. Attack-minded possession football requires as much positional caution as parking the bus, and until Lampard realises this Chelsea's opponents will keep hurting them.

3) Ceballos, Luiz, and Torreira hint that Emery's tactics can finally work at Arsenal

One particular move stood out in Arsenal's 2-1 victory over Burnley at the Emirates. David Luiz and Lucas Torreira exchanged crisp passes under pressure to evade the Burnley press, and then released Dani Ceballos, who turned quickly and ran 50 yards in possession before playing in Luiz for a shot that hit the legs of Nick Pope. From Torreira's quickness of thought under pressure to Luiz's bold run to Ceballos's attacking instincts, it was a move that reminded us of Sevilla's tactics under Unai Emery.

After a successful transitional year but one that lacked a coherent tactical direction, Arsenal finally have a squad ready to implement the Emery philosophy. He preaches sharp possession football with sudden tempo changes, drawing the opposition forward before breaking in large numbers behind them - which is why Ceballos and Luiz could be such big signings for him. Both players seek to play with speed and verticality; this should help release a quick, direct front three of Pierre-Emerick Aubayemang, Alexander Lacazette, and Nicolas Pepe.

Arsenal still relied on a moment of quality to beat Burnley and, overall, it was another meandering performance from the hosts. But that single Luiz shot offers a glimpse of a big change that could be about to happen for the Gunners.

Best of the Week – Sheffield United's overlapping centre-backs

Counter-intuitively, the clamour to talk about Sheffield United's overlapping centre-backs may have actually taken attention away from the complexity and originality of Chris Wilder's football. The winning goal against Crystal Palace was the result of Jack O'Connell sprinting down the left wing, but Roy Hodgson's side were not only bamboozled by his movement into the final third.

Left wing-back Enda Stevens popped up in the number ten position to lay the ball off to midfielder John Fleck, who made an overlapping run that went unseen with O'Connell bursting forward, and striker David McGoldrick started the move by dropping into the base of midfield. Positional switches such as these are common under Wilder, confounding the opposition – but rarely getting attention as those overlapping centre-backs grab the headlines.

Worst of the Week – Stagnation at Watford and Crystal Palace

Entertaining newly promoted clubs and Graham Potter's arrival at Brighton have cast the likes of Watford and Crystal Palace – pointless after two games - in a bad light. Both of these established Premier League sides look a bit tactically stale, perhaps indicating that their respective managers are coming to the end of their tenures.

Javi Gracia's side won 23 points from the final 20 games of last season, a decline that went largely unnoticed because of Watford's run to the FA Cup final. His consistent 4-2-2-2 formation is too easily countered these days, lacking variety or freshness this season following a quiet summer. Palace are similarly one-dimensional, bereft of creativity with Wilfried Zaha wanting out and lacking any obvious direction in a basic 4-4-2.