Andrew Fifield On The Premiership: Rivalry is that rarest of commodities - a natural resource that will never run out. It is certainly the fuel of sport, from Foreman and Ali, to McEnroe and Borg, to Roy Keane and almost everybody.

Even in the sanitised, family-friendly world of the Premiership, grudges are a formidable power source. It is one of the reasons Alex Ferguson has retained his vitality after 20 years at Manchester United, but Scotland's grouchiest pensioner cannot match the enmity that crackles - like a cartoon power-cable - between Sam Allardyce and Arsène Wenger.

This is not simply a culture clash. The traditional view of Allardyce as bolshy shop steward and Wenger as refined intellectual has now, finally, been accepted as ludicrously outmoded: the Bolton manager is one of England's great managerial pioneers, while Arsenal's professeur displayed his stroppy side in an absurd touchline scrap with Alan Pardew in November.

And yet if ever two managers were destined to disagree, it is these two.

While Allardyce plunders the foreign market for grizzled veterans in need of a refit, Wenger scours the globe for the cream of young talent; while Bolton have cemented their status as one of the Premiership's major forces with a heady mix of bruising physicality and rigorous attention to detail, Wenger steadfastly refuses to compromise his purist principles. Sam says "potato", Arsène says "pomme de terre" - and they have no intention of calling anything off.

A pity. The feud has provided reams of good copy and it undoubtedly lends a jagged edge to meetings such as last week's FA Cup fourth-round replay, where the exhilarating pace of a stupendous game was matched in intensity only by the two managers on the touchline, but it is now beginning to stain the reputations of both men.

Wenger, it should be said, has softened his previously antagonistic approach to his friends from the north: there was an understated swipe at Bolton's time-wasting tactics at Highbury last season, but ahead of the clubs' first FA Cup encounter in January, he was all sweetness and light. There was praise for Bolton's technical skill, some kind words for Nicolas Anelka, the latest Wanderer to be rehabilitated under Bolton's tough-love regime - even Allardyce, the bogeyman himself, was eulogised rather than demonised.

Perhaps Wenger hoped his conciliatory noises would be met in kind. Not a chance. Allardyce responded with a venomous attack every bit as biting as one of those icy winds that sweep down onto the Reebok stadium from the Pennines: Arsenal were bitter at Bolton's success, Wenger was a sore loser and his players were a soft touch. Even last week, there were acidic complaints about Arsenal's penchant for gamesmanship.

It is easy to understand why Allardyce is unwilling to let the feud drop. His barbed comments usually provoke a response - if not from Wenger, then certainly from one of his players - and the subsequent newspaper headlines are manna from heaven for a manager always looking for new ways to motivate and inspire his troops.

There is also the simple fact that Allardyce enjoys inciting Wenger. He has always been irked by the Frenchman's reluctance to engage in post-match pleasantries, deeming it plain aloofness, and though Allardyce did not coin the monicker "Arsène Whinger", he might well have done.

But it is time for him to banish this particular bugbear. Allardyce should have more faith in his squad, which is chock-full of experienced internationals who hardly need to be pumped up for meetings with one of the elite. More importantly, his insistence Wenger cannot stand being humbled by his plucky charges merely reinforces the public perception of Bolton as a small club punching above their weight.

This would be no problem if Wanderers were newly promoted and still blinking against the dazzle of the Premiership's glitterati, but they patently are not. No other side outside the established Big Four have finished more consistently in the top eight in the past three seasons, and this year the club's hopes of Champions League qualification are not idle delusions of grandeur.

If Allardyce persists with his us-against-the-world mentality, Bolton will never lose their reputation as scrappers desperate to secure survival at any costs. This might keep the club in the top flight, but it is hardly positive PR when it comes to attracting top new talent, and canny recruitment is the club's key to maintaining their current lofty status.

Phil Gartside, the chairman, has already warned supporters that their failure to regularly fill the Reebok will harm their chances of persuading the notoriously prickly Anelka to extend his stay beyond this season. He has a point, but perhaps he should also have a word with his manager.