Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois must be tied down to new long-term deal urgently, insists Olivier Giroud

OLIVIER GIROUD wants Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to tie down Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois to new long-term deals.

The French striker made his first start for his new club since completing his £18million move from Arsenal.

And 31-year-old forged an immediate connection with Hazard and set up the Belgian's first goal in their 3-0 win over West Brom.

Both Hazard and Courtois have been linked with moves to Real Madrid yet Giroud says Chelsea need to make sure they stay at Stamford Bridge.

He said: "Hazard and Courtois are very special players. They have been here a few years now and done a great job at the club.

"They are very good on the pitch but they are good guys as well. It's very important to keep that kind of player for their leadership. Obviously we need to keep them.

"It's simple to have a good understanding with Hazard because he smells the game, he smells the football.

"Even with Pedro, Willian or whoever else plays number ten we always try tactically to have a good understanding.

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"We need to work on the relationship in training and then to do it in the game.

"That's what the boss asks us and it's easy for me because the two number tens play closer than those I might have played with in the past.

"Eden and I - he could have assisted me and I could have scored against West Brom, but hopefully in the next game."

Giroud was subbed just after an hour but he had taken a real bruising from West Brom's defence.

He was crunched by Jonny Evans and accidentally kicked in the head by Ahmed Hegazi.

But Giroud says he did not want to come off and is enjoying playing football again after being frozen out at Arsenal.

He added: "I was very excited to make my debut at Stamford Bridge and I'm very happy for the team.

"Obviously we needed the three points to get the confidence for the following games and we've done the job.

"Clean sheet, three goals and we could have scored more. It's true you could see the team was not playing with the full freedom at times but it's normal after two disappointing results.

"But for me, I feel very good. It's been maybe two months since I started a game so I felt good.

"I worked hard in training to be physically ready and to do what the coach asked me to do tactically.

"I couldn't play all the game because of my physical form. I had a pain in my calf and was basically limping.

"I didn't want to go off. I said at half-time when they put stitches in my head that I wanted to carry on. But the calf was very painful and I couldn't play the whole game.

"I got studs in my head and a big cut. Five stitches. It's OK. I get used to it."

Giroud is likely to feature again on Friday in Chelsea's FA Cup clash with Hull and the former Arsenal man says he needs games to get back up to speed.

He said: "It's been a while since I played regularly and that's why I needed to move. I needed a new challenge and Chelsea was the perfect club for me.

"It's the Premier League, a club which has won more titles in the past ten years than any other.

"It's a massive club and I am very proud to be here and to carry on my career in the Premier League.

"I am back in the FA Cup and the Champions League and we are going to take the games step by step.

"We want to qualify for the FA Cup and then we have three big games to come against Barcelona in the Champions League and then Manchester United and Manchester City away.

"That's why we need the confidence high. We just need the momentum."