With Ricky Ravenhill sidelined for the next three months with a knee injury, Ritchie Jones is also ruled out of City's trip to Meadow Lane with a slight hamstring problem.
Recent recruit Nathan Doyle - himself more than comfortable in midfield - is still short of match fitness, while Andrew Davies, who has played as a holding midfielder in the past, is out with a minor thigh problem.
All these factors combined give Parkinson his first selection headache of the new campaign, and the City chief acknowledges some reshuffling will have to take place against their League 1 hosts at the weekend.
Parkinson said: "Obviously fans are aware of Ricky's (Ravenhill) situation, but we also have some other slight problems in that area (midfield).
"Ritchie Jones won't be fit for Saturday and Nathan Doyle isn't quite ready yet either.
"Even our contingency plan, Andrew Davies, won't quite be fit enough for Saturday.
"Andrew has played as a holding midfielder in the past, so we did think of using him there on Saturday but he isn't quite fit enough to risk at the moment.
"All in all, it gives us a problem we weren't quite expecting. Not a major problem - Ritchie and Andrew's injuries are nothing major - but it has given us some dilemmas for this weekend.
"We'll have to look at things, it may mean some players moving about a bit."
Garry Thompson and Alan Connell are in contention for places among City's travelling party to Meadow Lane, however, after enjoying a good workout at near neighbours Bradford (Park Avenue) on Tuesday.
Parkinson added: "We are lucky enough to have some good options up there (in attack) at least. Garry Thompson and Alan Connell also had a good bit of game time against Avenue on Tuesday to add to those options.
"It was a tough game for us because they (Avenue) are a good side and we had a very inexperienced side out on the night, but I thought those two did well.
"They certainly gave us food for thought."