Barcelona will be without Thierry Henry for the visit of Almeria after he failed to recover from a thigh injury in time.

Henry began the season in his now customary position on the left-hand side of Barca's three-pronged attack.

But the Frenchman, who bagged 26 goals last season as Barcelona won three titles, is yet to score this term and has been criticised by press and fans.

An injury to summer-signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic looked to have given Henry a golden chance to break his duck at Malaga last weekend, but the former Arsenal man went off with a thigh injury in the first half and also missed Tuesday night's Champions League tie against Dynamo Kiev.

The player was expected to recover in time for this match, but remains out and Barca coach Pep Guardiola is unwilling to risk the 32 year-old in a game the Catalans will be expected to win at a stroll.

With Henry out, Guardiola could hand a second consecutive start to Andres Iniesta on the left.

Iniesta started for the first time this season against Dynamo following several substitute appearances, but is now fully recovered from the injury which saw him miss the start of the campaign and the whole of pre-season.

Another option for Guardiola is youngster Bojan Krkic, who has been sidelined for several weeks but is finally fit to return to action.

In defence, summer signing Dmytro Chygrynskiy misses out through injury, along with Gabi Milito, who is still on the road to recovery following almost a year and a half on the sidelines.

Barcelona have won their opening five league matches and will hope to make it six with a new success over Almeria.

And the Catalans could move clear at the top as fierce rivals Real Madrid, who have also won five from five, meet third-placed Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan on Sunday.

However, Guardiola is unconcerned by the possible outcome of that clash.

"It's just another game in the calendar and we will also have to play against Madrid and Sevilla," he said.

And the Barca coach believes any points difference between the two clubs at this stage of the season will be of little importance in any case.

"At the end of the weekend we could have an advantage of one, two or three points, or we could even be three points behind, and even then, it would be a useless difference, an insignificant disadvantage, because there will still be no less than 32 rounds left to play," he said.

Guardiola believes Barcelona will have to be very careful against an Almeria side adept on the counter-attack.

"If we don't attack with order and in the right positions, and leave too much space at the back, Almeria will punish us with the pace of (Pablo) Piatti and (Albert) Crusat," he said.

Meanwhile, Almeria coach Hugo Sanchez believes Barcelona are beatable at the Nou Camp and hopes to draw inspiration from Espanyol, who saw off Guardiola's side on their own patch last season.

"It is difficult to come up with a game plan against Barcelona, but not impossible - Espanyol surprised them with a special plan last season and that's a good reference point for us," he said.

Fabian Vargas is sidelined with a long-term injury while Henok Goitom is doubtful, but new signing Modeste M'Bami could make his debut at the Nou Camp.