ROME - AC Milan moved back to the top of Serie A after they labored to beat Chievo 1-0 on Tuesday.

AC Milan's Gennaro Gattuso fights for the ball against Chievo Verona's Cyril Thereau during their Italian Serie A soccer match at Marcantonio Bentegodi stadium in Verona, April 10, 2012.[Photo/Agencies]

Sulley Muntari scored the winner in the eighth minute to help the Rossoneri take all three points and move above Juventus to the top of the table.

They did the bare minimum to beat a Chievo side who were unfortunate not to equalize in the first half, but then tired in the second half in driving rain.

AC Milan head coach Massimiliano Allegri slammed naysayers after they "kept the Scudetto race alive" by beating Chievo.

"Tonight it was an extremely important game. We didn't play well, but if we didn't win then we could definitively drop out of the Scudetto race," he said.

"The criticism of Milan has been excessive," continued Allegri. "Everyone was waiting for us to fall, but fortunately we got back up again. Even when we were four points ahead there was a media campaign against us, as everybody was calling for our defeat."

The Milan defense did not have any work to do until after Muntari gave the visitors the lead.

His powerful left-foot shot from outside the penalty area beat Stefano Sorrentino low into the bottom corner.

Chievo responded with former Milan striker Alberto Paloschi scoring in the 24th minute, but a borderline offside decision ruled out his effort.

The home side continued to dominate proceedings as Milan seemed to struggle physically to keep up with them. Cyril Thereau went close before Sergio Pellissier missed a good opportunity from Paloschi's assist.

At the end of the half, Luca Rigoni missed the target and Milan somehow managed to hold out and defend their lead to the interval.

Chievo's failure to score in a dominant first-half performance proved costly as they were unable to summon the energy to carry on attacking in the second 45 minutes.