Lucas Paqueta available for West Ham vs Wolves as spot-fixing trial enters third week | OneFootball

Hammers boss Graham Potter insists Brazilian midfielder is “fine” to play as FA hearing continues

Lucas Paqueta has been training as usual and is available for selection for West Ham on Tuesday night after his FA spot-fixing trial entered its third week.

A panel’s hearing into whether Paqueta intentionally received four yellow cards first began on March 17, two days after the Brazilian midfielder played in a 1-1 draw at Everton.

West Ham’s first match since the trial began sees them face Wolves at Molineux on Tuesday. The 27-year-old has been training as normal with the first team and could feature.

Paqueta was not selected to represent Brazil in 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina over the past fortnight but is available for the Hammers, according to manager Graham Potter.

“He is fine,” Potter said. “It is what it is. We can't do anything about [the hearing], but he has trained well and he is acting absolutely normally.

The Football Association are reportedly seeking a lifetime ban for Paqueta if he is found guilty of picking up the yellow cards intentionally with the motive of influencing the outcomes of bets placed on him.

The games in which he is alleged to have received bookings which breach spot-fixing rules were the Premier League matches against Leicester in November 2022, Aston Villa in March 2023, Leeds in May 2023 and Bournemouth in August 2023. The hearing is still active.

Paqueta denies any wrongdoing and has vowed to “fight with every breath” to clear his name.

It was in May last year that the FA formally charged Paqueta with four breaches relating to the bookings.

West Ham are currently 16th in the Premier League but cannot be leapfrogged by their hosts at Molineux, because 17th-place Wolves trail them by eight points.